On March 15, members of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar sent a letter to Chief Justice Roberts asking to make the livestream of oral arguments available permanently. The Alliance signed on to a letter by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) in September also advocating for the Supreme Court to make the oral argument livestream accessible permanently. Before the pandemic forced the court to hold oral arguments virtually, only 50–100 members of the public could attend in-person oral arguments. The livestream has garnered over 100,000 people listening live to oral arguments, with past arguments approaching 1 million streams. The POGO letter explains, “ensuring that live audio of oral arguments remains accessible to the public and requiring media pool participants to caption that audio in real time with live transcription and American Sign Language interpretation would promote transparency and increase public confidence in the nation’s highest court.” The Alliance continues to advocate for open access to courts.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
