The judges who preside over America's secret court
While U.S. intelligence officials have insisted that the FISA process is thorough, little attention has focused on the judges themselves.
Selected by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, FISA judges serve for staggered seven-year terms. Although the court carries 11 judges at a time, 14 have served this year because of routine turnover.
Six of the 14 were originally appointed to the trial courts by George W. Bush; five by Ronald Reagan; two by Clinton and one by George H. W. Bush.
“Since FISA was enacted in 1978, we’ve had three chief justices, and they have all been conservative Republicans,