Judges across the country are dusting off their finest robes and buffing up their shiniest gavels — a new request from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gets the OK to put cameras in federal court trials is gaining steam.
The resolution will first go to the Judicial Conference’s committee on court administration, which meets in Washington D.C June 16-17, where it will face strict scrutiny from a group chaired by U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim of Minneapolis, Minn.
Cameras are nothing strange in courtrooms but this measure will reverse a long-standing nation-wide ban on photographing, recording and broadcasting of non-jury civil trials at the judge’s discretion.
Why the change of heart?
“Based on our experience in the court of appeals, cameras have not been disruptive and have, I believe, enhanced public understanding of the judicial process,” Chief Judge Alex Kozinski told the Daily Journal in an e-mail statement. “Of course, this is always subject to the control of the presiding judge, so in cases of special sensitivity, the judge could limit camera access or eliminate it altogether.”
The issue of cameras in the court officially began back in 1996, when Associate Justice David Souter told Congress “the day you see a camera come into our courtroom its going to roll over my dead body.”
The 9th Circuit permits cameras in appellate courtrooms for oral arguments as long as the applets panel grants permission. Since 1991 news media have asked 240 times to record proceedings in that district with two-thirds of those requests being granted.
Judges and lawyers who weighed in on the same plan at a 9th Circuit conference in 2007 voted 171-96 in favor of cameras – with 90 judges voting in favor with 63 opposed.
“I’m not sure if the time is ripe,” David Sellers, a spokesman for the federal courts’ administration in D.C said. “Judges have been concerned about the impact of cameras on juries, but the proposal is for non-jury situations only.”
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