U.S. Courts Release 2018 FISA Report

July 11, 2019

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has issued the 2018 report on activities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The 2018 report reveals a significant decline in the number of total applications to the FISC. There were 1,318 FISA applications in 2018, down by three hundred applications from the total of 1,614 in 2017. The scrutiny of FISA applications by the Court remained steady after an uptick last year: 985 orders were granted, 261 orders were modified, 42 orders were denied in part, and 30 applications were denied in full. EPIC testified before Congress in 2012 on the need to improve review of FISA applications. EPIC Senior Counsel Alan Butler also recently appeared before Europe's highest court to provide expert analysis on U.S. surveillance law, including FISA authorities.

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