Cameras In The Supreme Court? "The General Consensus Is Not One Of Glee."
Working with a medium that relies on pictures to tell a story, any television reporter who covers the Supreme Court will tell you that it sure would be nice to get some cameras in that courtroom. Well, if the justices have anything to do with it, that's probably not going to happen anytime soon. As Congress considers proposals to allow cameras in Supreme Court sessions, a House panel yesterday sought reaction on the matter from Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas during a meeting to consider the court's budget.
The justices were less than thrilled with the idea.
Reports The New York Times today, Justice Kennedy responded by raising a little separation of powers issue:
"It's not for the court to tell Congress how to conduct its proceedings," and the reverse was also true, he said. He added, "We feel very strongly that we have intimate knowledge of the dynamics and the mood of the court, and we think that proposals mandating and directing television in our court are inconsistent with the deference and etiquette that should apply between the branches."A blog at the University of Pittsburgh law school points to a slightly more pointed criticism of the idea by another justice: "Justice David Souter famously told a congressional panel in 1996 that 'the day you see a camera come into our courtroom, it's going to roll over my dead body.'"Justice Thomas was equally firm, warning that television in the courtroom would have a negative impact on the argument sessions.
"It runs the risk of undermining the manner in which we consider cases," he said. He added that some members of the court "feel more strongly than others," but that all agreed that the court should decide the issue for itself. "The general consensus is not one of glee," he said.