Federal and state courts authorized just under 3,000 wiretaps in 2018, down nearly 30% from the peak of authorizations in 2015. This is according to 2008 to 2018 data from the Administrative Office of the US Courts, which is required to submit a report to Congress summarizing the “applications for orders authorizing or approving the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.” These reports do not include a discussion of wiretapping requests, made by the Foreign Intelligence Service which are considered in FISA Courts rather than federal and state courts.
Here is a look at what the 2018 report reveals about how wiretaps break down by jurisdiction and use.
