South Dakota becomes 50th state to allow cameras in court
By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff
07.26.01
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| South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert A. Miller in his office in state Capitol in Pierre. |
PIERRE, S.D. — Members of the news media may now record, broadcast and take photos during state Supreme Court sessions, making South Dakota the 50th state to allow cameras in its courtrooms.
Chief Justice Robert A. Miller said rules adopted by the justices would allow expanded news media coverage as a pilot project, subject to annual review by the high court.
Guidelines for recording, broadcasting and photographing Supreme Court proceedings were proposed during a study by court employees, attorneys and news media representatives. Media that break the rules may be cited with contempt of court and punished.
Miller has said he believed electronic media and photographers could be part of the Supreme Court setting without interfering with the legal process.
News organizations have said expanded coverage of Supreme Court sessions would foster improved public understanding of the appellate process.
"I'm very excited that my state has finally decided to let cameras into the courts," said Mark Millage, chairman of the Radio-Television News Directors Association and news director at KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, in a news release. "This is an important first step for electronic journalists and citizens across South Dakota."
Michael W. Day of Belle Fourche, president of the State Bar, said that organization had no qualms about the coverage.
"The Supreme Court rule was carefully drafted, and the issue of cameras in the Supreme Court thoroughly studied," Day said yesterday. "We think it's a reasonable compromise to improve access for our citizens to our Supreme Court proceedings, yet it protects the decorum of our court. It is an experiment which we hope works well."
For years, South Dakota and Mississippi were the only states that didn't allow cameras in their courtrooms. In April, the Mississippi Supreme Court began broadcasting its proceedings on a Web site, and news media may tap into it for audio and video. Next month, the Mississippi Court of Appeals will begin broadcasting its oral arguments over the Internet. But no connection will be available to allow broadcast media to capture video and audio of the appeals court proceedings.
Although all 50 states now allow some camera presence in courts, there is a wide disparity among the states as to how much access is allowed. Some states permit cameras in some courts but not others. In some states the parties in a court action must agree for cameras to be allowed.
Several U.S. lawmakers are pushing to get cameras admitted to federal courtrooms. Both the House and the Senate are considering bills that would permit judges in federal trial and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court, to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to allow video and still cameras in their courts.
The Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's policy-making body, opposes cameras in trial courts, and just two of the nation's 12 federal appeals courts — the 2nd Circuit in New York and the 9th Circuit in San Francisco — currently allow cameras.
Previous efforts to pass cameras-in-the-court legislation have failed. But the bills' sponsors say the measures have a greater chance of succeeding this session in light of the Supreme Court's decision last year to allow audio broadcasts of its hearings in the presidential-election case.
Press advocates hope the federal judiciary will follow the state courts' lead.
"RTNDA has fought long and hard to open America's courtrooms to its citizens," said Barbara Cochran, RTNDA president, in a news release. "The decision announced today in South Dakota, the progress we're making in Mississippi, the success we had with the U.S. Supreme Court last year, and pending federal legislation all give us great hope that Americans will soon have direct access to the third branch of government in every state and at the national level, too."