Law360 has Sens. Reintroduce Bill To Allow Cameras In Supreme Court

  • Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and a bipartisan group of senators reintroduced legislation Thursday to allow live television coverage of U.S. Supreme Court proceedings.

  • The Cameras in the Courtroom Act says the Supreme Court “shall permit television coverage of all open sessions” of the court, but also allows a majority of justices to vote that allowing coverage of a particular case would constitute a violation of due process rights of one of the parties.
  • “As trust in the Supreme Court hovers near all-time lows, shining a light into the Supreme Court chamber would increase transparency, strengthen democracy, and help inform Americans of issues at the forefront of their government,” Durbin said.
  • Live television coverage of argument before the justices would add another element of transparency to the Supreme Court, which began audio livestreaming only in 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The court continued livestream audio even after it returned from virtual arguments to in-person ones in October 2021.