II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1460 

To create two additional judge positions on the court established by the 

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and modify the procedures 

for the appointment of judges to that court, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2013 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. 

TESTER, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. DURBIN, and 

Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To create two additional judge positions on the court established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 

1978 and modify the procedures for the appointment 

of judges to that court, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FISA Judge Selection 

5 Reform Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) FISA COURT.—The term ‘‘FISA Court’’ 

2 means the court established under section 103(a) of 

3 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 

4 (50 U.S.C. 1803(a)). 

5 (2) FISA COURT OF REVIEW.—The term 

6 ‘‘FISA Court of Review’’ means the court of review 

7 established under section 103(b) of the Foreign In8 telligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

9 1803(b)). 

10 SEC. 3. REFORMS TO THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SUR11 VEILLANCE COURT. 

12 (a) FISA COURT JUDGES.— 

13 (1) NUMBER AND DESIGNATION OF JUDGES.— 

14 Section 103(a)(1) of the Foreign Intelligence Sur15 veillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(a)(1)) is 

16 amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘(1)(A) There is a court (referred to in this para18 graph as the ‘FISA Court’) which shall have jurisdiction 

19 to hear applications for and to grant orders approving 

20 electronic surveillance anywhere within the United States 

21 under the procedures set forth in this Act. 

22 ‘‘(B)(i) The FISA Court shall consist of 13 judges, 

23 one of whom shall be designated from each judicial circuit 

24 (including the United States Court of Appeals for the DisVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:18 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1460.IS S1460

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1 trict of Columbia and the United States Court of Appeals 

2 for the Federal Circuit). 

3 ‘‘(ii) The Chief Justice of the United States shall— 

4 ‘‘(I) designate each judge of the FISA Court 

5 from the nominations made under subparagraph 

6 (C); and 

7 ‘‘(II) make the name of each judge of the FISA 

8 Court available to the public. 

9 ‘‘(C)(i) When a vacancy occurs in the position of a 

10 judge of FISA Court from a judicial circuit, the chief 

11 judge of the circuit shall propose a district judge for a 

12 judicial district within the judicial circuit to be designated 

13 for that position. 

14 ‘‘(ii) If the Chief Justice does not designate a district 

15 judge proposed under clause (i), the chief judge shall pro16 pose 2 other district judges for a judicial district within 

17 the judicial circuit to be designated for that position and 

18 the Chief Justice shall designate 1 such district judge to 

19 that position. 

20 ‘‘(D) No judge of the FISA Court (except when sit21 ting en banc under paragraph (2)) shall hear the same 

22 application for electronic surveillance under this Act which 

23 has been denied previously by another judge of the FISA 

24 Court. 


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1 ‘‘(E) If any judge of the FISA Court denies an appli2 cation for an order authorizing electronic surveillance 

3 under this Act, such judge shall provide immediately for 

4 the record a written statement of each reason for the 

5 judge’s decision and, on motion of the United States, the 

6 record shall be transmitted, under seal, to the court of 

7 review established in subsection (b).’’. 

8 (2) TENURE.—Section 103(d) of the Foreign 

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

10 1803(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘redesignation,’’ 

11 and all that follows through the end and inserting 

12 ‘‘redesignation.’’. 

13 (3) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

14 (A) INCUMBENTS.—A district judge des15 ignated to serve on the court established under 

16 section 103(a) of the Foreign Intelligence Sur17 veillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(a)) be18 fore the date of enactment of this Act may con19 tinue to serve in that position until the end of 

20 the term of the district judge under section 

21 103(d) of such Act, as in effect on the day be22 fore the date of enactment of this Act. 

23 (B) INITIAL APPOINTMENT AND TERM.— 

24 Notwithstanding any provision of section 103 of 

25 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 


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1 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803), as amended by para2 graphs (1) and (2), and not later than 180 days 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

4 Chief Justice of the United States shall— 

5 (i) designate a district court judge 

6 who is serving in a judicial district within 

7 the District of Columbia circuit and pro8 posed by the chief judge of such circuit to 

9 be a judge of the FISA Court for an initial 

10 term of 7 years; and 

11 (ii) designate a district court judge 

12 who is serving in a judicial district within 

13 the Federal circuit and proposed by the 

14 chief judge of such circuit to be a judge of 

15 the FISA Court for an initial term of 4 

16 years. 

17 (b) COURT OF REVIEW.—Section 103(b) of the For18 eign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

19 1803(b)) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘The Chief Justice’’ and insert21 ing ‘‘(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Chief Jus22 tice’’; and 

23 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(2) The Chief Justice may designate a district court 

25 judge or circuit court judge to a position on the court esVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:18 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1460.IS S1460

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1 tablished under paragraph (1) only if at least 5 associate 

2 justices approve the designation of such individual.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT ON DIVERSITY AND REP4 RESENTATION ON THE FISA COURTS. 

5 (a) STUDY.—The Committee on Intercircuit Assign6 ments of the Judicial Conference of the United States 

7 shall carry out a study on how to ensure judges are ap8 pointed to the FISA Court and the FISA Court of Review 

9 in a manner that ensures such Courts are diverse and rep10 resentative. 

11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

12 of the enactment of this Act, the Committee on Intercir13 cuit Assignments shall submit to Congress a report on the 

14 study carried out under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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