Cameras in the Courtroom, Part IV: Louisiana Approach
IV. H.R. 2128 and S.352: The Sunshine in the Courtroom Bills of 2007
There have been various efforts within the United States Congress to open federal courts to televised media coverage. Although not the first of these, the widely hailed “Sunshine in the Courtroom Act” was previously introduced on April 18, 2005 in the United States Senate to allow media coverage of court proceedings. The bill, cited as the “Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2005", was a bi-partisan effort, sponsored by Senator Charles Grassley [R-IA] and co-sponsored by eleven other republican and democratic senators. The bill proposed to “give Federal judges the discretion to allow for the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting and televising of Federal court proceedings.” As Senator Grassley noted in his introduction of the bill to the Senate on April 18, 2005, the bill “gives judges the discretion to use cameras in the courtroom...it does not require judges to have cameras in their courtroom if they do not want them..the bill also protects the anonymity of non-party witnesses by giving them the right to have their voices and images obscured during testimony.” Despite the Sunshine Act’s broadly supported sponsorship, the bill died in the Senate and never became law.
However, H.R. 2128 and companion bill S.352, the currently proposed “Sunshine in the Courtroom Acts of 2007", now before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, propose similar legislation authorizing the presiding judge of a United States appellate court or district court to permit the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising to the public of court proceedings over which that judge presides, except when such action would constitute a violation of the due process rights of any party. The bill, chiefly sponsored by Congressman Bill Delahunt and Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio in the House and Senator Chuck Grassley in the Senate, authorize the Judicial Conference of the United States to dictate advisory guidelines for use by a presiding judge regarding implementation of media in the courtroom as contemplated by the Act. Additionally, the Act directs a district court to order the disguise of a witness’ face and voice to render the witness unrecognizable to the broadcast audience of the trial proceeding upon the request of the witness (not a party), and also directs the presiding judge in a trial proceeding to inform each witness who is not a party of the right to make such request. Notably, the bill contains a specific provision restricting the televising of jurors. In promoting the bill, Congressman Delahunt explained its purpose: “Cameras in the courtroom offer an alternative - an unedited, unfiltered, unvarnished glimpse of the judicial process as it really is...the goal of this legislation is to enhance our confidence in the American justice system.”
H.R. 2128 was introduced to the House on May 3, 2007 and referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, where it has remained, undergoing the processes of referrals, hearings, and markups, largely in the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. S. 352 was introduced in the Senate on January 22, 2007 and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, where it has continued to undergo hearings and consideration. If passed, the Sunshine Act will give Federal Judges considerable discretion to determine the amount of media access to their courtrooms. Because of a Judge’s ability to restrict or allow such coverage, however, the future impact of such a measure is arguably undeterminable at this time.
