The latest news on the FISA Court's "innovative" approach to issuing FISA warrants seems to me to reinforce my guess that the FISA Court has begun issuing anticipatory warrants. The New York Times reports: " A Congressional official who has been briefed on the new procedures called it a hybrid of individual warrants and broader approval." And the Washington Post says that "Four other people who have been briefed on the program, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program is classified, described it as a hybrid effort that includes both individual warrants and the authority for eavesdropping on more broadly defined groups of people." (Hat tip: JaO)

  This is exactly what you would expect with anticipatory warrants. In these circumstances, the FISC judges would have issued warrants authorizing DOJ to monitor in specific classes of cases in which the FISC judges believe probable cause will exist. In some cases, the trigger of the anticipatory warrant will be general, involving eavesdropping on a broadly defined group. In other cases, it will be very specific, making the warrant quite individualized. Thus the warrants will act as "hybrids" between traditional warrants and orders allowing more blanket monitoring.