I should clarify that I probably should have said "regular article III court." The FISA court is an article III court in the technical sense of the term (at least Orin Kerr things so: http://www.orinkerr.com/2006/07/14/article-iii-standing-and-...), because its judges are article III judges. Reading Kerr's comments, I'm now convinced that this is probably the correct use of the term.
However, when someone says "article III court" they are usually referring to: the Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal, and the U.S. District Courts, as these are the only courts that can exercise the full judicial power of the United States. In that sense the FISA court is not a regular Article III court, because it has a circumscribed set of powers.
In any case, my point is that a "secret court" sounds scary, and a secret court with full Article III powers would be very scary. But the FISA court is not such a court.
However, when someone says "article III court" they are usually referring to: the Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal, and the U.S. District Courts, as these are the only courts that can exercise the full judicial power of the United States. In that sense the FISA court is not a regular Article III court, because it has a circumscribed set of powers.
In any case, my point is that a "secret court" sounds scary, and a secret court with full Article III powers would be very scary. But the FISA court is not such a court.