Senators accuse Trump administration of hiding a secret court ruling on spying on Americans

Two Democratic senators with long experience overseeing US intelligence, Ron Wyden and Adam Schiff, say the Trump administration is unlawfully withholding the findings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) from Congress. According to them, the ruling is being kept under wraps until lawmakers renew a program that lets federal agents read Americans' communications without a warrant.

What the court decided

Seven months ago, in March, the court objected to search filters that allowed analysts to pull Americans' messages out of intercepted data. This was done without the approvals, written justifications, or records the law requires. The court nonetheless approved another year of surveillance.

Some of the findings are already known. According to The New York Times, the court held that tools narrowing intercepted data down to a particular American's messages effectively amount to searches of Americans and are subject to the same limits. The court ordered them rebuilt. Senator Alex Padilla noted that the Justice Department is appealing the part of the ruling that restricts the filters.

A previously declassified opinion described a similar FBI tool, a "participants filter" that let agents select people in contact with surveillance targets and read their messages. In February 2025, the Justice Department told the court the tool had been running searches nobody counted. The FBI switched it off the following month and later that year brought back a rebuilt version.

Deadlines and promises

Section 702 of FISA formally lapsed in June when Congress failed to renew it, but collection continues under the court's March approval. The administration's own documentation says such rulings are reviewed for public release within 180 days. That window closed on September 13.

In April, Intelligence Committee chair Tom Cotton, a Republican, and vice chair Mark Warner, a Democrat, asked for the ruling to be released within 15 days. In July, Attorney General Todd Blanche committed in writing to declassify it by the 180-day deadline, answering simply: "Yes." Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, who is legally responsible for declassification, has made no such promise.

Wyden and Schiff want an explanation for the delay, and the names of those responsible, by November 6. "If this administration won't follow this simple statutory directive, it is unclear why Congress or the American people should trust this administration to follow any of the other legal limits to Section 702," their letter says. Demand Progress and 22 other civil liberties groups, from the ACLU to conservative-backed organizations, urged Congress not to renew the program while the information is withheld.

Numbers without context

While the ruling stayed secret, intelligence agencies issued seven fact sheets citing a 98.9 percent compliance rate for FBI searches and a foiled terrorist plot against a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. None mentioned the court's findings. The Justice Department inspector general's October 2025 review gave a different figure, 98.6 percent, and could not conclude the problems were in the past. The fact sheets claim auditors review every search, yet FBI director Kash Patel closed the bureau's Office of Internal Auditing in May.

Senator Dick Durbin, who has read the ruling, told colleagues that once they did, their view of FISA and Americans' rights would "be impacted for sure."

The court's current approval expires in March. Reform advocates worry the renewal may be attached to the annual defense authorization bill, as happened in 2023.

Source: Hacker News