Law Commons^™

Smile For The Camera - The Long Lost Photos Of The Supreme Court At Work—And What They Reveal., Sonja R. West

Popular Media

In a day when even our cellphones can capture images unobtrusively, why were we forced to stare at pixels on our computer screens or at a static televised image of the Supreme Court’s exterior? In 2012, why is there a wall of separation between the American people and their high court?

For decades, the debate over cameras in the court has gone something like this: the press pleads for permission and the court says no; academics make policy arguments that the court ignores; and Congress threatens to force cameras into the court, but the justices don’t blink. The argument remains …

Endorsement Clauses In A Post-White Legal System: Why These Restrictions Do Not Violate A Judicial Candidate's First Amendment Right To Free Speech, Shawna M. Portner

Georgia Law Review

Elections have remained an integral method of state
judicial appointments for over two centuries. However,
because the Founding Fathers imposed upon judges the
duty to neutrally uphold the U.S. and state constitutions,
state legislatures, per the recommendation of the ABA,
have imposed certain restrictions on the speech and
actions of judicial candidates to maintain impartiality. In
2002, the Supreme Court struck down one category of
these provisions in Republican Party of Minnesota v.
White. The Court declared Minnesota's announce clause,
which prohibited judicial candidates from voicing their
opinions on issues likely to come before the bench, to be an
unconstitutional …

The First Amendment, Public School Students, And The Need For Clear Limits On School Officials' Authority Over Off-Campus Student Speech, Rory A. Weeks

Georgia Law Review

When, if ever, can school officials punish a student's off-
campus speech? The Supreme Court's student-speech
jurisprudence does not provide a clear answer. But this
much is clear: School officials do not possess absolute
authority over students' on-campus speech. Public school
students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the
schoolhouse gate. And yet during school or school-related
activities, public school students do not have coequal First
Amendment rights with adults in other contexts. During
school or school-related activities, school officials may
proscribe otherwise-permitted speech in order to fulfill the
school's basic educational mission, which includes
instructingstudents in civility. …

The Monster In The Courtroom, Sonja R. West

Scholarly Works

It is well known that Supreme Court Justices are not fans of cameras — specifically, video cameras. Despite continued pressure from the press, Congress, and the public to allow cameras into oral arguments, the Justices have steadfastly refused.

The policy arguments for allowing cameras in the courtroom focus on cameras as a means to increased transparency of judicial work. Yet these arguments tend to gloss over a significant point about the Court — it is not secretive. The Court allows several avenues of access to its oral arguments including the presence of the public and the press in the audience, …