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Shown Here: Introduced in House (06/28/2013)
113th CONGRESS 1st Session
H. R. 2586
To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of
1978 to provide for the designation of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
judges by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority leader of
the House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate,
and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 28, 2013
Mr. Cohen introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the
Judiciary, and in addition to the
Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent
Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of
1978 to provide for the designation of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
judges by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority leader of
the House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate,
and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1.Short title.
This Act may be cited as the
“FISA Court Accountability
Act”.
SEC. 2. Designation of
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges.
Section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803) is amended—
(1) in subsection
(a)—
(A) by striking
paragraph (1) and inserting the following new paragraph:
“(1)(A) There is established a
court which shall have jurisdiction to hear applications for and grant orders
approving electronic surveillance anywhere within the United States under the
procedures set forth in this Act.
“(B) The court established under paragraph
(1) shall consist of 11 publicly designated district court judges, of
whom—
“(i) 3 judges shall be designated by the
Chief Justice;
“(ii) 2 judges shall be designated by the
Speaker of the House of Representatives;
“(iii) 2 judges shall be designated by the
minority leader of the House of Representatives;
“(iv) 2 judges shall be designated by the
majority leader of the Senate; and
“(v) 2 judges shall be designated by the
minority leader of the Senate.
“(C) No judge designated under this
subsection (except when sitting en banc under paragraph (2)) shall hear the
same application for electronic surveillance under this Act which has been
denied previously by another judge designated under this subsection. If any
judge so designated denies an application for an order authorizing electronic
surveillance under this Act, such judge shall provide immediately for the
record a written statement of each reason for 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).”;
and
(B) in paragraph (2),
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(D) Any authority exercised by the court
en banc under this paragraph shall only be exercised when agreed to by 60
percent or more of the judges sitting en
banc.”;
and
(2) in subsection
(b)—
(A) in the first
sentence, by striking “The Chief Justice shall publicly designate three
judges, one of whom shall be publicly designate as the presiding judge”
and inserting “The Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and the majority leader of the Senate or, if the majority
leader is a member of the same political party as the Speaker, the minority
leader of the Senate, shall each publicly designate one judge, one of whom the
Chief Justice shall publicly designate as the presiding judge”;
and
(B) by adding at the
end the following: “Such court may only decide in favor of the Government
if the decision of the judges of such court is unanimous.”.
SEC. 3. Submission of
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions to Congress.
Section 601(c) of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1871(c)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph
(1)—
(A) by striking
“that includes significant construction or interpretation of any
provision of this Act,”; and
(B) by striking
“; and” and inserting a semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (2),
by striking the period and inserting “; and”; and
(3) by adding at the
end the following new paragraph:
“(3) an unclassified summary of each such
decision, order, or
opinion.”.
