To be fair, these decisions are for the approximate equivalent of search warrants. I don't recall the target of a proposed search warrant ever being given the opportunity to show why it should not be granted.
Lets see, we got secret judges making secret decisions and secret enforcement and only one side gets to present their case to them and 99% they win against no opposition. And under Obama.Search warrants have to be disclosed. They are limited in scope and duration. And if the police get a warrant to search my house they eventually have to leave it; they don't get to stand around watching just in case I later do something they don't like.
To be fair, these decisions are for the approximate equivalent of search warrants. I don't recall the target of a proposed search warrant ever being given the opportunity to show why it should not be granted.
A target of a search warrant is given the opportunity to show why a warrant should not be granted afterwards. That's the check to avoid unreasonable warrants.
Looks to me like no such check exits for what the NSA is doing.