Libby trial judge joins secret FISA court

WASHINGTON, May 24 (UPI) -- The judge who presided over the trial of vice presidential aide Lewis Libby has been appointed to the secret court that oversees U.S. intelligence wiretaps.

Reggie Walton, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts effective May 19.

He replaces Judge Claude Hilton of the Eastern District of Virginia, whose term expired May 18.

The appointment was first reported by the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News e-newsletter.

The secret court, established by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, considers in classified hearings requests from the U.S. Justice Department for authorization to conduct electronic surveillance and physical searches within the United States of those suspected of being foreign spies or terrorists.

The court had seven judges when it was set up, but in 2001 the hurriedly passed suite of anti-terror laws called the USA Patriot Act expanded the number to 11, "of whom no fewer than 3 shall reside within 20 miles of the District of Columbia."

Walton has been on the U.S. District Court in Washington since he was appointed by President Bush in 2001.

He was catapulted into the limelight by the high-profile trial of Libby, convicted of lying to the FBI and a grand jury about the administration's leak of the identity of a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame.

But it was not the first time he had been in the news.

Secrecy News noted that in July 2006 he had ruled in favor of the Federation of American Scientists in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the National Reconnaissance Office.

Earlier last year FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds unsuccessfully tried to get Walton to recuse himself from her case, arguing his decision to keep federally required financial disclosure information private created the appearance of a conflict of interest.

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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor