Cameras in the Courtroom: Will Supreme Court’s Hearing of Health Reform be Televised?
Whether or not Supreme Court cases should be televised has been debated many times over the years. And since the Bush vs. Gore presidential election case in 2000, no Supreme Court case has had the level of public interest as the fate of 2010’s Affordable Care Act, for which five and a half hours of oral arguments were recently scheduled for March 26-28 of this year.
Now that the arguments have been scheduled, speculation has sprung up again about whether the case will be shown on TV. Recent surveys show the public leaning towards yes. One poll by USA Today and Gallup, reports Joan Biskupic of USA Today, found that 72% of respondents supported allowing cameras for the health reform arguments, with a majority supporting broadcast of Supreme Court arguments in general. Similarly, writes Joe Palazzolo of the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog, a poll of the blog’s readers found that 55.6% favored televising the arguments.
So what are the issues at stake? Those who support televising Supreme Court cases, which include some members of Congress and media leaders, say that it would educate the public and encourage interest in what the Court does. Being able to see cases in their entirety, rather than reading someone else’s summary, would allow individuals to interpret the arguments on their own. Proponents also mention that written transcripts and audio recordings of oral arguments are already available soon after they take place – and in some states, video.
Those who don’t want the health reform case broadcast argue that televising one case would put pressure on the Court to televise other cases. They also worry that politics would enter the picture, and that choice sound bites that don’t necessarily show the whole picture would be taken out of context. Having a camera in the room may change the dynamics between Supreme Court justices, who will know their every move is being watched. In addition, some say that televising arguments would go against the constitutional separation of powers.
As of now, C-SPAN and 46 other media organizations have requested that the Supreme Court allow the case to be broadcast. The Court has not yet responded.
Readers, what is your take on this issue? Should the health reform arguments in March be televised? Should all Supreme Court cases be shown on TV?
Posted on Friday, January 6th, 2012 at 6:00 am. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below. Your comments will appear immediately, but the author reserves the right to delete innapropriate comments.