Can Supreme Court justices filibuster one another? We don’t think so, but if it was within the powers of Justice Antonin Scalia to do so, he might use the tactic to keep the tools of electronic journalism out of the mix.
A number of members of Congress and many journalism organizations and businesses have been pushing for cameras and mics in SCOTUS for some time. But Scalia is having none of it, according to a report in Politico.
It seems his main fear is that despite wall-to-wall coverage of court proceedings by C-SPAN, more mainstream news outlets would boil the proceedings down to the soundbite level, and as a result the American public would end up being mis-educated.
He noted that issues like the health care generate a great deal of public interest, but day in and day out, they are going thought issues only a lawyer could love.
When asked what the difference is between a quote in a newspaper article and a soundbite, Scalia said it was simply that the soundbite has a lot more impact.
RBR-TVBR observation: We don’t care what Scalia thinks – we pay his salary and we deserve to see him and his colleagues conduct the nation’s judicial business. It is absurd that the only view most Americans will ever have of a Supreme Court proceeding is that produced by sketch artists.
Since by definition, sketch artists have a certain amount of artistic license, we suggest they start making subtle and unflattering alterations in Scalia’s appearance until he gives in, and that goes for any other justices that resist cameras and mics.
And as we have stated before, if the justices are going to reject the tools of modern journalism, then We the People are going to deprive them of the tools of modern personal hygiene. We hope Mr. Scalia enjoys his outhouse.
