In 2013, Collyer was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to a seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.[2] The Court provides a measure of judicial oversight over surveillance activities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended. Judge Collyer's term on the FIS Court began on March 8, 2013, and was set to conclude on March 7, 2020. She replaced Judge John D. Bates, whose term ended on February 21, 2013.
On December 20, 2019, she announced she would step down early as the Presiding Judge FISC for health reasons.[7] She was succeeded by FISC Judge James E. Boasberg elevated to preside.[citation needed]
In United States House of Representatives v. Price (2016), Judge Collyer first found the House had standing to sue the Obama administration and, then, found that the administration had unconstitutionally spent billions of Treasury funds on health insurer subsidies without a congressional appropriation.[9] Judge Collyer enjoined any further insurer reimbursements without a valid appropriation, but stayed her order pending appeal.[10]
Collyer was one of four FISA Court judges who approved a FISA warrant (issued in October 2016 and renewed several times) authorizing the wiretapping of Carter Page, a Trump campaign aide the FBI believed was conspiring with Russia to interfere with the 2016 U.S. elections.[11][12]
In December 2019 Collyer issued an order saying the FBI "provided false information to the National Security Division (NSD) of the Department of Justice, and withheld material information from NSD which was detrimental to the FBI's case, in connection with four applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for
authority to conduct electronic surveillance of a U.S. citizen named Carter W. Page"[13] ordering the government to inform the court of planned procedures to "ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application."[13]