The only reason we know that U.S. intelligence agencies will maintain their sweeping spying powers under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) through March 2027, irrespective of whether Congress extends the program ahead of its statutory deadline in mid-June, is because of the Fourth Estate.

On April 9, The New York Times revealed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) judge who authorized the program’s annual recertification in a March 17 ruling “also objected to tools that agencies with access to the raw data … have created to allow analysts to process messages.”

In analyzing this data, the FBI and National Security Agency (NSA) use filter tools to sift through queries for information on individuals who have communicated with foreign intelligence targets, thus making them legal targets for surveillance. Apparently, those tools are prone to misuse. The FISC ruling requires intelligence agencies to “re-engineer the filter tools to comply with rules for queries for Americans’ information,” according to the Times, which obtained unclassified talking points the Trump administration sent to members of Congress in the run-up to House Republican leadership’s initial push to pass a clean reauthorization of the 702 program.

What this means is unclear, as the opinion itself has not been declassified. FISC opinions with significant legal interpretations are subject to a declassification review, and must be made public within a period of 180 days.

Given the looming statutory deadline for Section 702, it seems fair to suggest that declassifying the opinion would allow policymakers to make an informed decision about the future of the government’s warrantless spying program. Moreover, it may prove instructive for members of Congress seeking to craft reforms that strengthen Americans’ constitutional rights. One such member of Congress is Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).