The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called
the FISA Court) is a U.S. federal court established and authorized under
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests
for surveillance warrants against foreign spies inside the United States by
federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Such requests are made
most often by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). Congress created FISA and its court as a result of the
recommendations by the U.S. Senate's Church Committee.[1] Its powers have
evolved to the point that it has been called "almost a parallel Supreme
Court."
