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Sunday, November 27, 2011
Courts - "End the ban on cameras in the Supreme Court"
From an editorial published Nov. 25th in the Washington Post:
IN MARCH, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear one of its most important cases in years: a constitutional challenge to President Obama’s signature health-care program.The case should also be its most closely watched — literally. It would be a fitting vehicle for the court’s first televised argument.
We have long urged the justices to allow cameras in the court. Supreme Court arguments generally focus on issues of national importance, typically involve the best lawyers in the country and rarely, if ever, raise the kinds of privacy or safety concerns that crop up in lower courts, where the identity of witnesses and jurors may sometimes need to be shielded.
The court has firmly resisted, arguing that allowing televised proceedings could compromise decorum and change the nature of the sedate proceedings because lawyers — and perhaps even justices — might be tempted to ham it up. Some critics worry that broadcasts could encourage outbursts from audience members. Others say that cameras would make justices more recognizable to the public, increasing security concerns and infringing on privacy. Still others worry that media outlets could take sound bites out of context. Finally, some believe that the public would not be able to make sense of the complicated proceedings.
These are not arguments for banning cameras; they are arguments for banning virtually all coverage of the court and the justices. No reasonable person would accept that.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 27, 2011 02:04 PM
Posted to Courts in general