Congressmen push bill to allow cameras in federal courts
By The Associated Press
07.13.01
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WASHINGTON — Two congressmen are proposing legislation that would bring federal courts to the reality TV generation by allowing cameras in the courtroom.
Under the proposed legislation, judges in federal and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to allow video and still cameras in their courts.
Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., a former district attorney, said all but two states permit cameras in their courts. It enhances the public's confidence in the criminal justice system, he said.
"In our age of information on demand, sound bites of high-profile celebrity trials can paint an incomplete picture," he said of his bill, which he plans to file today. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, is the bill's co-sponsor.
Cameras would offer an "unedited, unfiltered, unvarnished glimpse of the judicial process as it really is," he said.
Opponents argue that cameras create privacy and security concerns and that the right to a fair trial could be compromised if lawyers play to the lenses. The Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's policy-making body, fought the proposal last year.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said the majority of the court also opposes it. He denied requests for cameras last year during the Gore v. Bush proceedings that decided the disputed presidential recount in Florida and thus, the election.
Opponents are not limited to the judiciary.
"The golden age of courtroom sketching is over from an economic standpoint," courtroom sketch artist David Rose said. "If the camera comes into the federal court, we'll be wiped out completely."
Rose, a 1931 graduate the Massachusetts College of Art, has sketched thousands of trials, including the Pentagon Papers trial, a precedent-setting First Amendment case from the Nixon era. A top artist can make up to $600 per day, but cameras in state courts have reduced demand.
"Many of my colleagues find it difficult making a living at it," said Rose, a Boston native who now lives in Hollywood. "The news agencies would love it. We've been a necessary evil."
The House passed Delahunt and Chabot's bill last year, but in the Senate, it never got out of committee.
Senate sponsors Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, are more optimistic now because Democrats control the Senate.
In 1980, Delahunt prosecuted the first case that allowed cameras in a Massachusetts court. It led to expanded trial coverage statewide.
Just two of the nation's 12 federal appeals courts — the 2nd Circuit in New York and the 9th Circuit in San Francisco — allow cameras.
After news media clamoring last year, Rehnquist eventually agreed to release audiotapes of the Gore v. Bush proceedings immediately after the hearing. Usually, there is a longer delay before tapes are made available.
Update
Senate panel passes cameras-in-court bill
Legislation would give federal judges option of allowing proceedings to be televised, photographed.
11.30.01
Previous
Senators try again to bring cameras into federal courts
Bill sponsors say measure has greater chance of succeeding in light of Supreme Court’s decision last year to allow audio broadcasts of its hearings in presidential-election case.
06.06.01
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