Facebook Twitter Email
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2002

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth held the first emergency sessions of the ultra-secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court at 3 a.m. in his living room, he disclosed recently.

The sessions came after the Osama bin Laden-linked bombings of embassies in Africa in 1998, he told an audience at the University of Texas Law School last month. Once, he was forced to stop mowing his lawn and conduct emergency hearings because "four carloads of agents [were] in the driveway," according to remarks reported by The New York Times.

Lamberth is presiding judge of the court, which consists of seven federal judges who review federal wiretapping requests and national security related issues. His term ends May 18.

Get the Story:
After Sept. 11, a Little-Known Court Has a Greater Role (The New York Times 5/3)
Username: indianz.com, Password: indianz.com

Related Stories:
Senate passes anti-terror bill (10/12)
House passes anti-terrorism bill (10/25)
Justice O'Connor issues rights challenge (10/19)
House approves anti-terrorism bill (10/15)
Senate passes anti-terror bill (10/12)
Senate acting on anti-terror bill (10/11)
Anti-terrorism bill expands police powers (10/4)
Bill to expand federal police powers (10/2)