Supreme Court TV Coverage
Recent Developments in Congress
The Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved, by a bipartisan 12-to-6 vote, S. 410, the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act, to open all Federal court proceedings, including the U.S. Supreme Court, to television coverage. The bill, introduced by Senator Charles Grassley (IA-R), would allow Federal trial and appellate judges to allow electronic media coverage of their court proceedings, except when coverage would violate the due-process rights of any party. It would require that identities of certain witnesses to be obscured and would prohibit coverage of jurors, the jury selection process, and attorney-client conferences. It also calls for a three-year sunset of…
