Why didn't the President run taps, etc., though the FISA court? It's my understanding that the law provides for post-facto approval, up to 3 days. I don't debate that it was, and is, necessary to perform the kinds of wiretaps that are described above, but if a court existed to review them, why didn't the administration use it?
Because virtually every court that has ever addressed this matter over the last 30 years, both pre-FISA and post-FISA, and notably including even the FISA court itself, has concluded that the President does have the inherent constitutional power to conduct warrantless surveillance to obtain foreign intelligence information.
(And before you ask, "foreign" intelligence intercepts is what the NSA spying controversy is all about.)