Report shows growing support for Supreme Court television coverage

    A Congressional Research Service report indicates several reasons why public support for televising proceedings of the U.S. Supreme Courts and other federal courts is growing.
        Public opinion surveys indicate increased support for television coverage of Supreme Court proceedings in recent years. A national telephone survey of 900 registered voters, conducted from April 4-5, 2006, asked, “Do you think it is a good idea or a bad idea to allow television coverage of sessions of the U.S. (United States) Supreme Court?” In response, 70 perecent said “good idea”; 18 percent said “bad idea”; and 11 percent “don’t know.”3  That's up from 50 precent in favor five years earlier.
        SPJ has long supported increased television camera access to federal courts.
    .  The report examines the controversy about televised proceedings. For example, in 1996, Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter said, “The day you see camera come into our courtroom, it’s going to roll over my dead body.”
     In contrast, in 2005, Senator Arlen Specter remarked when introducing legislation to require televising Supreme Court proceedings that, “Today, I believe the time has come and
that this legislation is crucial to the public’s awareness of Supreme Court proceedings
and their impact on the daily lives of all Americans.”