Nominee: Put high court on TV

[usregimechange]

WASHINGTON — During her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Judge Sonia Sotomayor was careful not to telegraph how she might vote as a Supreme Court justice — except on one issue. On the question of whether the high court should allow its proceedings to be televised, Sotomayor signaled that she's a thumbs up.

"When there have been options for me to participate with cameras in the courtroom, I have," Sotomayor told the panel. She said she will "relay those positive experiences" to other justices if she is confirmed.

In Washington, the Supreme Court is the only one of the three branches of the federal government where television cameras are not a regular presence.

The comings and goings of President Obama and his White House predecessors have been regularly captured on video for years. The White House press secretary's daily briefings have been available for live TV broadcast since 1995. The House of Representatives has offered gavel-to-gavel coverage via C-SPAN since 1979; the Senate followed suit in 1986.

In a poll of more than 1,000 voters nationwide earlier this month for C-SPAN, 61% said they favored putting the Supreme Court on TV.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090720/courttv20_st.art.htm

[imdjh]

1. It would have to be better than Congress, wouldn't it?

CSPAN coverage of Congress on most days would bore a slug. It's not particularly good marketing either. It moves at a snails pace, and they stop every few minutes to call the roll, and all those people milling about, shuffling papers and seemingly quite aware that they are on camera.