I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2440 

To require the Attorney General to disclose each decision, order, or opinion 

of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that includes significant 

legal interpretation of section 501 or 702 of the Foreign Intelligence 

Surveillance Act of 1978 unless such disclosure is not in the national 

security interest of the United States and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2013 

Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself, Mr. MORAN, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. 

JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of 

Illinois, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. BASS, Mr. RANGEL, and Mr. CICILLINE) 

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 require the Attorney General to disclose each decision, 

order, or opinion of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 

Court that includes significant legal interpretation of section 501 or 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 

Act of 1978 unless such disclosure is not in the national 

security interest of the United States and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FISA Court in the 

3 Sunshine Act of 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Secret law is inconsistent with democratic 

7 governance. In order for the rule of law to prevail, 

8 the requirements of the law must be publicly discov9 erable. 

10 (2) The United States Court of Appeals for the 

11 Seventh Circuit stated in 1998 that the ‘‘idea of se12 cret laws is repugnant’’. 

13 (3) The open publication of laws and directives 

14 is a defining characteristic of government of the 

15 United States. The first Congress of the United 

16 States mandated that every ‘‘law, order, resolution, 

17 and vote [shall] be published in at least three of the 

18 public newspapers printed within the United 

19 States’’. 

20 (4) The practice of withholding decisions of the 

21 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is at odds 

22 with the United States tradition of open publication 

23 of law. 

24 (5) The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court 

25 acknowledges that such Court has issued legally sig26 nificant interpretations of the Foreign Intelligence 


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1 Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) 

2 that are not accessible to the public. 

3 (6) The exercise of surveillance authorities 

4 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 

5 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), as interpreted by se6 cret court opinions, potentially implicates the com7 munications of United States persons who are nec8 essarily unaware of such surveillance. 

9 (7) Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Sur10 veillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861), as amended 

11 by section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Public 

12 Law 107–56; 115 Stat. 287), authorizes the Federal 

13 Bureau of Investigation to require the production of 

14 ‘‘any tangible things’’ and the extent of such author15 ity, as interpreted by secret court opinions, has been 

16 concealed from the knowledge and awareness of the 

17 people of the United States. 

18 (8) In 2010, the Department of Justice and the 

19 Office of the Director of National Intelligence estab20 lished a process to review and declassify opinions of 

21 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, but 

22 more than two years later no declassifications have 

23 been made. 


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1 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that each decision, order, 

3 or opinion issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 

4 Court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of 

5 Review that includes significant construction or interpre6 tation of section 501 or section 702 of the Foreign Intel7 ligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861 and 

8 1881a) should be declassified in a manner consistent with 

9 the protection of national security, intelligence sources and 

10 methods, and other properly classified and sensitive infor11 mation. 

12 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE OF DECISIONS, 

13 ORDERS, AND OPINIONS OF THE FOREIGN IN14 TELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT. 

15 (a) SECTION 501.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 501 of the Foreign 

17 Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

18 1861) is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(i) DISCLOSURE OF DECISIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) DECISION DEFINED.—In this subsection, 

22 the term ‘decision’ means any decision, order, or 

23 opinion issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveil24 lance Court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 

25 Court of Review that includes significant construc26 tion or interpretation of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE.—Sub2 ject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the Attorney General 

3 shall declassify and make available to the public— 

4 ‘‘(A) each decision that is required to be 

5 submitted to committees of Congress under sec6 tion 601(c), not later than 45 days after such 

7 opinion is issued; and 

8 ‘‘(B) each decision issued prior to the date 

9 of the enactment of the FISA Court in the Sun10 shine Act of 2013 that was required to be sub11 mitted to committees of Congress under section 

12 601(c), not later than 180 days after such date 

13 of enactment. 

14 ‘‘(3) UNCLASSIFIED SUMMARIES.—Notwith15 standing paragraph (2) and subject to paragraph 

16 (4), if the Attorney General makes a determination 

17 that a decision may not be declassified and made 

18 available in a manner that protects the national se19 curity of the United States, including methods or 

20 sources related to national security, the Attorney 

21 General shall release an unclassified summary of 

22 such decision. 

23 ‘‘(4) UNCLASSIFIED REPORT.—Notwithstanding 

24 paragraphs (2) and (3), if the Attorney General 

25 makes a determination that any decision may not be 


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1 declassified under paragraph (2) and an unclassified 

2 summary of such decision may not be made available 

3 under paragraph (3), the Attorney General shall 

4 make available to the public an unclassified report 

5 on the status of the internal deliberations and proc6 ess regarding the declassification by personnel of 

7 Executive branch of such decisions. Such report 

8 shall include— 

9 ‘‘(A) an estimate of the number of deci10 sions that will be declassified at the end of such 

11 deliberations; and 

12 ‘‘(B) an estimate of the number of deci13 sions that, through a determination by the At14 torney General, shall remain classified to pro15 tect the national security of the United 

16 States.’’. 

17 (2) SECTION 702.—Section 702(l) of the For18 eign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 

19 U.S.C. 1881a(l)) is amended by adding at the end 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(4) DISCLOSURE OF DECISIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) DECISION DEFINED.—In this para23 graph, the term ‘decision’ means any decision, 

24 order, or opinion issued by the Foreign Intel25 ligence Surveillance Court or the Foreign IntelVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:42 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2440.IH H2440

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1 ligence Surveillance Court of Review that in2 cludes significant construction or interpretation 

3 of this section. 

4 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE.— 

5 Subject to subparagraphs (C) and (D), the At6 torney General shall declassify and make avail7 able to the public— 

8 ‘‘(i) each decision that is required to 

9 be submitted to committees of Congress 

10 under section 601(c), not later than 45 

11 days after such opinion is issued; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) each decision issued prior to the 

13 date of the enactment of the FISA Court 

14 in the Sunshine Act of 2013 that was re15 quired to be submitted to committees of 

16 Congress under section 601(c), not later 

17 than 180 days after such date of enact18 ment. 

19 ‘‘(C) UNCLASSIFIED SUMMARIES.—Not20 withstanding subparagraph (B) and subject to 

21 subparagraph (D), if the Attorney General 

22 makes a determination that a decision may not 

23 be declassified and made available in a manner 

24 that protects the national security of the United 

25 States, including methods or sources related to 


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1 national security, the Attorney General shall re2 lease an unclassified summary of such decision. 

3 ‘‘(D) UNCLASSIFIED REPORT.—Notwith4 standing subparagraphs (B) and (C), if the At5 torney General makes a determination that any 

6 decision may not be declassified under subpara7 graph (B) and an unclassified summary of such 

8 decision may not be made available under sub9 paragraph (C), the Attorney General shall make 

10 available to the public an unclassified report on 

11 the status of the internal deliberations and 

12 process regarding the declassification by per13 sonnel of Executive branch of such decisions. 

14 Such report shall include— 

15 ‘‘(i) an estimate of the number of de16 cisions that will be declassified at the end 

17 of such deliberations; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) an estimate of the number of de19 cisions that, through a determination by 

20 the Attorney General, shall remain classi21 fied to protect the national security of the 

22 United States.’’. 

Æ 


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