PRISM

[Lamplighter]

This is the first time I've seen info about the FISA court in a public news source...

Washington Post
Peter Wallsten, Carol D. Leonnig and Alice Crites
6/23/13

For secretive surveillance court, rare scrutiny in wake of NSA leaks

Wedged into a secure, windowless basement room deep below the Capitol Visitors Center,
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates appeared before dozens of senators earlier this month
for a highly unusual, top-secret briefing.<snip>

The public is getting a peek into the little-known workings of
a powerful and mostly invisible government entity.
And it is seeing a court whose secret rulings have in effect created
a body of law separate from the one on the books
— one that gives U.S. spy agencies the authority to collect bulk information
about Americans’ medical care, firearms purchases, credit card usage and
other interactions with business and commerce, according to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).<snip>

Surveillance court judges are selected from the pool of sitting federal judges
by the chief justice of the United States, as is required by the law that established the panel.
There is no additional confirmation process.
Members serve staggered terms of up to seven years.