FBI v. Fazaga

FBI v. Fazaga

Opinion

Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case, we consider the relationship between the longstanding “state secrets” privilege and a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), 92 Stat. 1783, 50 U. S. C. §1801 et seq., that provides a procedure under which a trial-level court or other authority may consider the legality of electronic surveillance conducted under FISA and may thereafter order specified forms of relief. See §1806(f). This case was brought in federal court by three Muslim residents of Southern [*7]  California who allege that the Federal Bureau of Investigation illegally surveilled them and others under FISA because of their religion. In response, the defendants (hereinafter Government) invoked the state secrets privilege and asked the District Court to dismiss most of respondents’ claims because the disclosure of counter-intelligence information that was vital to an evaluation of those claims would threaten national-security interests.

The District Court agreed with the Government’s argument and dismissed the claims in question, but the Ninth Circuit reversed, reasoning that §1806(f) “displaced” the state secrets privilege. We now hold that §1806(f) has no such effect, and we therefore reverse.

This Court has repeatedly recognized “a Government privilege against court-ordered disclosure of state and military secrets,” General Dynamics Corp. v. United States, 563 U. S. 478, 484, 131 S. Ct. 1900, 179 L. Ed. 2d 957 (2011); see also United States v. Zubaydah, ___ U. S. ___, ___ (2022) (slip op., at 7); Tenet v. Doe, 544 U. S. 1, 11, 125 S. Ct. 1230, 161 L. Ed. 2d 82 (2005); United States v. Reynolds, 345 U. S. 1, 6-7, 73 S. Ct. 528, 97 L. Ed. 727 (1953); Totten v. United States, 92 U. S. 105, 107, 23 L. Ed. 605 (1876). The present case requires us to determine whether FISA affects the availability or scope of that long-established privilege.

Electronic surveillance for ordinary criminal law enforcement purposes is governed by Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U. S. C. §§2510-2522, but foreign intelligence surveillance presents special national-security concerns, and Congress therefore enacted FISA to provide [*8]  special procedures for use when the Government wishes to conduct such surveillance. See Clapper v. Amnesty Int’l USA, 568 U. S. 398, 402, 133 S. Ct. 1138, 185 L. Ed. 2d 264 (2013). FISA established the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to entertain applications for and, where appropriate, to issue orders authorizing such surveillance. See id., at 402-403, 133 S. Ct. 1138, 185 L. Ed. 2d 264; 50 U. S. C. §§1803-1805.

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