Chauvin Trial Shows Importance of Court Access

There has been a lot of attention focused on the ongoing trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. Occurring in the context of often-heated discussions of police treatment of minorities, the trial has been shown live on TV and online, and most of the coverage by other media has relied on these live feeds.

This shows that a trial can be covered by cameras without turning into a sensation. And it provides a good example of the reasons why courts should be open to the press and other observers, and that media coverage of the courts can play an important role in showing the functioning of the courts and the basis for legal rulings and verdicts.

https://scpress.org/chauvin-trial-shows-importance-of-court-access/

Courts' Cell Phone Ban Gets Worse for the Non-Elite

In 2012 I wrote about state courthouses in Cook County, Illinois (metro Chicago) selectively banning cell phones from their facilities. Now the court administrators have made a bad situation worse by removing the lockers that allowed court visitors to store their phones while in the building.

Fed Courts Find Few Harms From Cameras, Ban Them Anyway

An evaluation (which, tellingly, is not online) of the federal courts' recently concluded test of allowing cameras to record some proceedings in selected courtrooms found that a majority of judges and lawyers surveyed agreed that the positive impact of the cameras outweighed the negative, according to Law 360 (sub. req'd).

But the Federal Judicial Center, which sets policy for the federal courts, still announced Tuesday (Mar. 16) that it would not recommend any changes to the general policy that still and video cameras are banned from most federal courtrooms.

Third Circuit May Join Video Party

According to Howard J. Bashman, the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Philadelphia and hears appeals from federal cases in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands, is working on putting video of all of its oral arguments on YouTube.

The Experiment Ends: With What Result?

The federal courts have announced the end of the four-year experiment in which selected federal cases were recorded with video cameras and the videos posted online. The next step, according to the Judicial Conference, will be the creation of a camera policy for all federal courts, possibly at a meeting in March.

Supreme Court's Camera Pananoia Snares Intern

Politico reports that there has been another instance of an unauthorized camera in the Supreme Court: this time, by a CNN intern in the court's press room.

Another Supreme Court Video Surfaces, Showing Folly of Camera Ban

For the third time in about 14 months, activists have released a video of them interrupting proceedings of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Florida Court's New Rule Limits New Media Access

Perhaps taking its cue from the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued press credential rules which limit access by the premier blog covering the court, a judicial district in Florida has issued new rules that essentially bar bloggers and other new media journalists from covering trials in those courts.

More Illicit Supreme Court Video

Still and video cameras are still officially not allowed in the courtroom of the U.S. Supreme Court, but for the second time in as many years a video has surfaced that was taken while the court was in session.

Prosecutor's Exclusive Access to Courtroom Cameras a Problem

Criminal defense attorneys in Warren County, Ohio are objecting to a closed-circuit video and audio system that allowed Prosecuting Attorney David Fornshell to observe trials from three courtrooms at his desk, the ABA Journal reports, citing articles from the Cincinnati Inquirer and the Dayton Daily News.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!: Some Federal Courts Post Audio Recordings Online

cross posted at the Digital Media Law Project
While the propriety of video and photography equipment in federal courts is subject of ongoing debate and testing, a number of federal bankruptcy courts and three federal district courts make audio recordings of their proceedings available to the public for a nominal fee.

SCOTUS Undercover Video Appears to Violate Camera Ban

cross posted at the Digital Media Law Project

People are discovering a recently-posted You Tube video that apparently shows both a portion of the oral argument in a campaign finance case in October 2013 and Wednesday's interruption of an oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ninth Circuit Starts Live Streaming, As Federal Camera Test Continues

cross posted at the Digital Media Law Project)
In early December, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals announced that it would provide live-streams and archived video of oral arguments on its web site, starting later in the month. This makes it the only federal appeals court to offer online video coverage of its proceedings.

Chicago Area Courts Ban Devices, For Some

(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
 Criminal courthouses in Cook County, Illinois (Chicago and environs) will ban the public from bringing in electronic devices as of Jan. 15, under an order issued by Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans in mid-December. See Gen’l Admin. Order 2012-8 (Ill. Cir. Ct., Cook Cnty. Dec. 11, 2012) (press release).

Kansas Allows Tweeting, Texting From Court

As reported by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Kansas Supreme Court has amended the state's courts rules to explicitly permit tweeting and texting from courtrooms.

Twitter Overruled in Supreme Court

One of the persistent issues that I've written about on this blog is the use of Twitter in the courtroom: both authorized use by journalists and unauthorized use by jurors and other trial participants. This is a growing issue that an increasing number of trial and appellate courts across the country are facing.

Hot Topics

Two of the issues that I've frequently written on this blog and elsewhere are jurors' use of social media and the Internet, and public access to court proceedings, including cameras in courtrooms.

I've been interviewed on both of these topics in the past few days.

D.C. Courts Fight the Future in New Electronic Device Rule

(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
The Blog of the Legal Times reports that the Superior Court of the District of Columbia -- the local trial court for the nation's capital -- has issued a new administrative order regarding use of electronic devices in the courthouse. And like other courts, the new rules impose a class system of "haves" and "have nots" -- favored types of the people can have and use the devices, while everyone else can not. The rules also contain an archaic view of electronic devices that effectively means that even when the rules allow them to be used, they cannot be used for any modern, web-based functions.

Federal Courts' Camera Experiment Rolls On

(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
After a slow start, the latest experiment of video cameras in federal courtrooms, announced last October, appears to be finally starting to roll.

On the Back Page

My latest article, "Cameras roll in new federal court experiment," appears as "The Back Page" column -- on, you guessed it, the back page -- of this month's issue of The Brechner Report, published by the University of Florida.