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Supreme Court TV
Throughout the blogosphere, the buzz this week is about the four-part program The Supreme Court, which begins tonight on PBS. But if a bill filed in Congress Monday becomes law, the Supremes will become a permanent presence on our TV sets. Variety reports that Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., introduced legislation that would force the Supreme Court to allow television coverage of its proceedings. In a statement, Specter said:
"The Supreme Court makes pronouncements on constitutional and federal law that have direct impacts on the rights of Americans. Those rights would be substantially enhanced by televising the oral arguments of the court so that the public can see and hear the issues presented. With this information, the public would have insight into key issues and be better equipped to understand the impact of and reasons for the court's decisions."
The bill (S. 1768) would allow banning of cameras in particular cases if a majority of the justices believed that cameras would violate a litigant's due process rights.
Co-sponsors of the bill include Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Russell Feingold, D-Wis. and John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on January 31, 2007 at 03:45 PM | Permalink
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