They never went to the FISA court because what they were doing was ILLEGAL

and they knew it and they didn't need a FISA court to tell them. It kills me when I hear Democratic lawmakers wringing their hands and saying "We'll work with you - tell us what you need. If Fisa needs to be revised, we'll revise it."

They want FISA revised so that the illegal becomes legal. No probable cause. Those founding fathers just didn't understand "terrorism". Those founding fathers risked their lives and their families' lives and their fortunes and their lands and legacies. They fought a war ,often surrounded by people whose loyalties were unclear (revolutionaries or Tories?) and yet they still wrote a Bill of Rights that included "probable cause." They understood "terrorism" in a way that we hopefully will never know.

edited for brevity's sake

they were also spying on the Democratic Party and it's candidates prior to the '04 election. I can also imagine the spying being used to blackmail people on both sides of the political spectrum.

1. They asked them to get a FISA warrant and the NSA refused
2. They asked them for a written opinion from the Justice Department and NSA refused

Prima facie evidence that they (NSA) were completely and totally aware that their request was illegal and could only be done under the mask of secrecy and "national security". Oh yeah, and number

3. Denying the frigging Justice department security clearances so they could investigate -PROVING that the Executive Branch is incapable of self-policing.

NSA is holding themselves above other members of the Executive Branch, the Fisa Courts and the Congress. It is being set-up as an internal police organ along the lines of the KGB or the Statsi and it is UNACCEPTABLE.