The same can/should be said for "unpublished opinions"[1] of any court. I do not understand how in a common law system a judge can make a ruling and say "I don't want to be held accountable for this rash decision I just filed. Let's mark it unpublished and make sure it never has to undergo much scrutiny."

[1] This is a different unpublished than FISC decisions. Instead of "unpublished" read as "non-precedential opinions." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-publication_of_legal_opinio...