Supreme Court won't review ACLU request for access to surveillance court rulings

[Polybius]

Source: The Hill

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for access to decisions handed down by the U.S. surveillance court.

The court denied ACLU’s bid in an unsigned order, over a dissent by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The ACLU had asked the Supreme Court to consider whether Americans have a First Amendment right to access decisions handed down by the secretive court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which has played a central role amid the government’s expanded mass surveillance efforts over the past two decades.

The group argued in their April brief that the secret court’s once-narrow role ballooned following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that its portfolio now has “profound implications for individual rights.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/579376-supreme-court-wont-review-aclu-request-for-access-surveillance-court

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Only two descents?

[Ford_Prefect]

1. The question of dissents may be based on procedural form as much as Privacy rights.

When it comes to Gorsuch one can never expect the outcome to be straight forward.

I wonder that none of the other justices commented also. It may be that the questioning of FISA process and scope doesn't lend itself to conventional legal wisdom, so to speak.

I have no doubts that the FISA system is subject to frequent abuse in this regard but I don't know that it is always abused.

[Polybius]

2. Very true

I wish I knew more about this case.