potential hostile acts. The Court of Review stated that the lower opinion establishing the restrictions did not clearly set forth the basis for its decision. Instead, the restrictions "appear[] to proceed from the assumption that FISA constructed a barrier between counterintelligence/intelligence officials and law enforcement officers in the Executive Branch," but the opinion did not support such an assumption. This "wall" between the intelligence officials and law enforcement officers was created by the FISC in reliance on "its statutory authority to approve 'minimization procedures' designed to prevent the acquisition, retention, and dissemination within the government of material gathered in an electronic surveillance that is unnecessary to the government's need for foreign intelligence information." Two arguments were presented by the government in opposition to these restrictions. One was that the government argued that the pre-Patriot Act limitation in FISA restricting the government's use of intelligence information is "an illusion." Alternatively, the government argued that even if the "primary purpose" limitation exists, the passage of the Patriot Act eliminated that concept from FISA. As a corollary, the government argued that the restrictions imposed by the FISC below were a misconstruction of the FISA provisions and "an end run around" the amendments added by the Patriot Act. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) submitted amicus curiae briefs in support of the restrictions. The briefs argued primarily that the FISA statute and the amendments of the Patriot Act are unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment unless they are construed to prohibit the government from obtaining a FISA surveillance order if its "primary purpose" is criminal prosecution. Among other things, the Court of Review found that FISA is constitutional, that the minimization requirements of FISA are not grounds to limit the purpose of the FISA application, and that FISA may be used to collect evidence for criminal prosecution. The Court also noted but made no judgment regarding "the President’s inherent constitutional authority to conduct warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance," which relates to part of the government justification in the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy. See also Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review References External links In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001 Memorandum opinion In Re Sealed Case No. 02-001 FISC opinion - IN RE ALL MATTERS SUBMITTED TO THE FISC Transcript of Case No. 02-001 United States