Another gain for Transparency!

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/02/senate-panel-votes-to-open-supreme-court-to-cameras-114004.html

Senate panel votes, 11-7, to open Supreme Court to cameras
By JOSH GERSTEIN |
2/9/12 11:20 AM EST
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted, 11-7, Thursday morning for
legislation that would open Supreme Court arguments to television
coverage.

The vote was largely along party lines. The only Democrat to oppose
the measure was Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who said she
feared showboating by lawyers and a slippery slope leading to a
reprise of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Other senators noted that
televising trial court proceedings, while common in many states, is a
more complicated matter than televising Supreme Court arguments, where
there are no witnesses or juries.

Two Republicans with a history of supporting transparency measures
voted for cameras, Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and John Cornyn of
Texas.

The bill has a provision which would allow a majority of justices to
close arguments in a specific case if due process required it. Many
justices have resisted opening the court to cameras, though they now
release audio recordings of arguments.

Video of the Judiciary Committee session is available via C-SPAN -
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Bill-Would-Allow-Cameras-in-the-Supreme-Court/10737428169-1/.

One side note: after Simpson's acquittal in 1995, the Clinton White
House considered endorsing legislation to ban or limit camera coverage
in trial courts. It never formally endorsed such a measure, which
could raise constitutional questions by regulating state court
proceedings.

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