In a move that is not likely to be popular among several members of the country’s highest court, the Senate has advanced a bill that would allow cameras in federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The bill will help the public become better informed about the judicial process and produce a healthier judiciary,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, who introduced the bill. “It goes to the heart of an open, transparent government and is based upon the core beliefs of our Constitution’s Founding Fathers about the judiciary. Nearly all state courts allow cameras in courtrooms. It’s time for the sun to shine on the federal courts. The public has a right to know what goes on behind the courthouse doors.”
The bill, the proposed “Sunshine in the Courtroom” Act, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, but it still has an uphill climb if history is a lesson. The same legislation has been passed several times by the Judiciary Committee since first being introduced more than eight years ago. And though the Senate committee advanced the bill, the vote was a tight 10-8.
Several justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have been vocal in their opposition of cameras in the courtroom. Most famously, Justice David Souter told Congress in 1996: “The day you see a camera come into our courtroom it’s going to roll over my dead body.”
Those views have been echoed – albeit not so bluntly – by Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy. Here’s a roundup of the justices view in the issue here from C-SPAN.org.
