Pilot project to allow recordings in federal district courtrooms
Sep 17, 2010 11:04 AM, By Phil Kurz
The electronic news media will have access to video footage of select federal district court cases but will not be allowed to send camera crews into courtrooms themselves, according to the Judicial Conference of the United States.
The conference said Sept. 14 it will conduct a nationwide pilot project to examine the use of cameras in federal district courtrooms. The project also will release digital video recordings of select civil proceedings to the public.
The project, which will last up to three years, will give individual federal judges the ability to opt out of the project, and all parties involved in cases must agree to the recording of their proceedings. Jurors will not be recorded.
While the project opens up video documentation of court cases, it does not allow members of the electronic news media to enter federal district courtrooms to record proceedings. Rather, participating courts will record the cases, and that footage will be released to the press, said David Sellers, a spokesperson for the administrative office of the court. A committee of the conference will determine how the trial will be implemented, and currently no details about how the news media will access court footage have been decided, he added.
The Federal Judicial Center will study the pilot and produce interim reports at the end of its first and second years. The Administrative Office of the United States Courts will provide funding for equipment and training as needed by participating courts.
Since 1946, electronic news media coverage of criminal proceedings in federal courts has been prohibited. In 1996, camera coverage prohibition in courts of appeals was rescinded, and individual appellate courts were given the discretion to allow recording of oral arguments. Currently, the Second and Ninth Federal Court of Appeals allow this coverage.
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