ACLU Pushes Bill Authorizing Televised Supreme Court Arguments

The American Civil Liberties Union is trying to get the Senate to tee up a bill in the lame duck session that would authorize televising Supreme Court oral arguments. The bill (S. 446), is backed by court camera fan and Sen Arlen Specter (D-PA), a former Republican and former prosecutor. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, but has yet to get a vote in the full senate. "The Court decides too many questions of monumental importance to the American people to deny them the opportunity to observe its proceedings," wrote ACLU, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Alliance for Justice. "The time has come for the Supreme Court to enter the 21st century and join the high courts of the United Kingdom and Canada by permitting broadcast television coverage of its open proceedings." The idea is to get Senate staffers thinking about the bill before the election week takes over their agenda.