Supreme Double Standard on Cell Phones in Court

I've written before about the fact that many courthouses "ban" cellphones and other electronic devices from parts of the building, or from the entire edifice, often have exemption for a select elite: judges and their staffs, often along with lawyers, police officers, and others.

Yesterday's incident at the U.S. Supreme Court points this out to an extreme.

Times Tech Reporter's Court Tweeting Tale

New York Times technology reporter Mike Issac has written a "Times Insider" article (sub. req'd) on his experience covering the testimony of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a patent infringement case in a Texas federal court.

While Issac had obtained permission to use his electronic devices in the courtroom from the presiding judge, he was asked to stopping tweeting after court personnel apparently discovered that his tweets were getting widespread attention, including repetition by other media.

Michigan Case Doesn't Show the Way on Device Bans

Michigan Live reports that a Michigan man has filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging a policy banning cell phones from courthouses in Saginaw County, Michigan. While I am sympathetic with the plaintiff's case here, it is extremely unlikely that the Supreme Court will take the case. And even if it did, the Court would likely not rule for the plaintiff because of the technicalities of this particular case.

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.

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.

Tweeting Penalty Has Bad Character

An Arkansas judge has found the managing editor of a television station in contempt for tweeting the verdict in a murder case, despite explicit instructions from the judge not to do so. But the "punishment" imposed by the judge may create new problems.

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.

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.

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 Discuss Smartphone Policies

(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
The U.S. Judicial Conference, which helps set policy for federal circuit (appeals) and district (trial) courts, has issued a memo, first reported by Wired's "Threat Level" blog, that is meant to help individual courts set policies on when and how smartphones and similar devices can be brought into and used in courthouses and in courtrooms.

More Media: I'm Interviewed on Social Media in Court

 

On Tuesday I joined Wichita (Kansas) Eagle Staff Writer for Interactive News Ron Sylvester to discuss Tweeting, blogging and use of other social media to report on courtroom proceedings in the latest Lawyer2Lawyer podcast.