This July 26 NYT story seems not to have been diaried:
In making assignments to the [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] court, Chief Justice Roberts, more than his predecessors, has chosen judges with conservative and executive branch backgrounds that critics say make the court more likely to defer to government arguments that domestic spying programs are necessary.
Improvements have been proposed, for example:
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat … has proposed that each of the chief judges of the 12 major appeals courts select a district judge for the surveillance court; the chief justice would still pick the review panel that hears rare appeals of the court’s decisions, but six other Supreme Court justices would have to sign off. Another bill, introduced by Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, would give the president the power to nominate judges for the court, subject to Senate approval.
These ideas appear likely to somewhat increase the diversity of appointments. But more could be done. For example:
• Limit the permitted percentage of judges originally appointed by Presidents of any one political party, and with previous experience working for the Executive Branch.
• Have two judges be nominated by a vote of each of the majority and minority party membership of the intelligence oversight committee of each house of Congress.
• Insert in the records of those two committees questions for and comments on each potential nominee, from the American Bar Association, and interested NGOs like the ACLU.
• Having in mind Eisenhower's farewell speech on the military industrial complex, and the doozy of a farewell speech we might expect from Obama, give each President at the end of his or her term a nomination that is not subject to Senate approval.
9:13 PM PT: Of the consistently useful comments on this diary, perhaps the most useful is from "Josiah Bartlett":
Demand a Public Defender !!!
Charged with presenting a vigorous defense to protect the PEOPLES interests and Constitutional Rights and Protections.
Give the PD authority and funding to appeal if needed.
Have some strong rules for evidence. Make sure that this court cannot be a rubber stamp for the government.
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This would be a big improvement, although it will broaden the nomination issue to cover the Public Defender(s). Perhaps one way to encourage sufficient adversarial zeal on their part would be for PD(s) to be appointed during the administration, of one President, with the appointment taking effect, and continuing, only during the administration of the next President.