Forget the judge, full speed ahead

I haven't read the atrocious legislation the Democrats allowed to pass last week killing the FISA process, but Emptywheel tells us that it's even worse than we may have thought. Under the new law, if the FISA court rules against the administration on the few things (if any) that it still has authority to review, the administration can continue to violate the law during the course of its appeal to the Court of Appeals and eventually the Supreme Court. That could be years, given the pace of appeals in our court system.

If [FISC] judge so designated denies an application for an order authorizing electronic surveillance under this chapter, such judge shall provide immediately for the record a written statement of each reason of his decision and, on motion of the United States, the record shall be transmitted, under seal, to the court of review established in subsection (b) of this section.

[snip]

If [FISCR] determines that the application was properly denied, the court shall immediately provide for the record a written statement of each reason for its decision and, on petition of the United States for a writ of certiorari, the record shall be transmitted under seal to the Supreme Court, which shall have jurisdiction to review such decision.