I was not speaking about establishing binding precedent. However, even on that note, your argument rings hollow--the FISC has established precedent that has very much become the prevailing understanding of "legal" where its cases are concerned. That's why we've arrived at the mess we're in. Whether the precedent is binding or not is debatable, as nobody I've yet heard of is quoting FISC decisions in other law enforcement actions/cases. But when we have every official from the President onward declaring that everything is "legal" because it has been reviewed and decided upon repeatedly over the last few decades by "the courts", I think trying to make a technical argument on the binding nature of the precedents established is misguided.
FISC precedent is important in the sense that it guides FISC itself, and it guides grants of foreign intelligence warrants, but at the end of the day, if the government wants to use information collected pursuant to a FISC warrant to prosecute you, it has to do so in a regular U.S. District Court, and that court is not bound in any way by the FISC's interpretations of the law. In contrast, in a patent litigation, all the U.S. District Courts are absolutely bound by the Federal Circuit's precedent.
You've said nothing materially different from me on the point that I made. You are pinpointing and continuing to dispute an off-hand comment about rubber-stamping with drawing upon the establishment of precedent and its binding nature on other courts, and again, I wasn't saying anything about that issue at all.
If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say you misunderstood the intent of my jab and are carrying forward an inconsistent comparison, cherry picking one minor detail to dispute the jab, and creating a bit of a straw man here that is completely pointless.
Here, I will say it again:
I was referring only to the fact that given their caseload and decisions, the CAFC often appears as a rubber stamp court for patent litigation. I was not speaking about establishing binding precedent [on any other courts].
Sheesh, friend. You're barking up the wrong tree here.
Since the Supreme Court has created large good faith effort holes in the exclusionary rule for law enforcement, any source of reliable warrants creates an unlimited opportunity for mischief. Other courts will have to admit evidence first suspected because of information obtained through any apparently valid FISA warrant.
And since FISC is a no-work sinecure for ultra-right judges to draw a salary and benefits for occasionally showing up to rubber stamp secret warrants, it blows a hole in any restrictions on search and seizure for anyone in any court with access to FISC.
