Live Webstreaming Of CT Supreme Court Arguments

This is Sunshine Week, the week when we remember, and celebrate, the importance of freedom of information and government transparency. It is only appropriate to note public officials who have contributed to openness and transparency. One of those public officials is Connecticut Supreme Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers.  Since she assumed her role as Chief Justice, she has been a strong advocate for public access to the courts.

In this post, I want to applaud a more recent “open courts” development that Chief Justice Rogers has supported—live web streaming of Supreme Court arguments. For a number of years the Supreme Court has supported the presence of CT-N cameras in its courtroom during oral arguments. Historically, CT-N videos of oral arguments were only available after-the-fact.  Increasingly, however, CT-N is providing live coverage of oral arguments via the web.  CT-N’s goal, which the Chief Justice supports, is eventually to provide live coverage (and archival footage) of ALL Supreme and Appellate Court arguments.

As an appellate lawyer, I state without equivocation that public access to video coverage of appellate arguments is a valuable resource, but not only for lawyers; it is a great educational resource for the public. The addition of live streaming coverage of arguments is a particularly welcome development, as many lawyers, but particularly the media, value real-time access.

None of these open courts initiatives would have been possible without the support of the Judicial Branch. So, hail to the Chief!