I’ve got a writeup at Ars Technica of an important ruling in yesterday in a suit against the government stemming from extralegal NSA wiretapping. Short version: Yes, FISA really is the “exclusive means” by which the government can do foreign intelligence wiretaps in the U.S., assertions of magical “inherent authority” notwithstanding. And no, you can’t just assert a state secrets privilege to get around the process FISA explicitly provides for the review of sensitive material concerning people who have been unlawfully recorded.

Also, by the by, since FISA is already the exclusive means for surveillance, the provision in the so-called “compromise” FISA amendments bill reiterating that language is not some wonderous new check on executive power won by hard-nosed Democratic negotiators.  It’s a smokescreen brewed up to give the illusion of a trade-off so that they can pretend they haven’t just utterly surrendered.