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A Bill to Televise Supreme Court Proceedings

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate this week would permit television coverage of open sessions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The purpose of this legislation is to open the Supreme Court doors so that more Americans can see the process by which the Court reaches critical decisions of law that affect this country and everyday Americans," said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Justice Felix Frankfurter perhaps anticipated the day when Supreme Court arguments would be televised when he said that he longed for a day when the news media would cover the Supreme Court as thoroughly as it did the World Series," Sen. Specter said in his introductory statement.

"Allowing the public greater access to [Supreme Court] proceedings will allow Americans to evaluate for themselves the quality of justice in this country, and deepen their understanding of the work that goes on in the Court," added Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who cosponsored the bill along with Senators Cornyn, Allen, Grassley, Schumer and Feingold.

See the introduction of S.1768, a bill to permit televising of Supreme Court proceedings, September 26:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2005/s1768.html

"Justices on the Supreme Court oppose the televising of their proceedings," according to a recent Congressional Research Service report, "in part because the cameras might alter decision making and intrude on the privacy of the justices, making them public celebrities."

Read entire article at Secrecy News, the newsletter written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists