{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s643-115/featured_sunshine-in-the-courtroom-act-of-2017-1530627280.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s643-115/featured_large_sunshine-in-the-courtroom-act-of-2017-1530627280.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s643-115.png"},"introduced_on":"2017-03-15","title_override":"Cameras in the Court: Should Federal Court Proceedings be Broadcast?","summary_override":"

This bill — the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act — would allow the presiding judge (or a majority of an en banc panel) of a federal district or circuit court, or the U.S. Supreme Court to permit the photography, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising of court proceedings to the public. An exception to this would be made if doing so would violate the due process rights of a party to the case (i.e. a plaintiff or defendant). The court would be required to disguise the voice and face of a witness who is not a party to the case by rendering their features unrecognizable to the broadcast audience. The presiding judge would be required to inform witnesses of their right to request their identities be disguised during testimony.

A judge could also obscure the face and voice of a witness if there is a good reason to believe that broadcasting their features could threaten:

The witness’ safety,
The security of the court.
The integrity of ongoing or future law enforcement operations.
The interest of justice.

Judges would be prohibited from allowing the broadcasting of any juror, or the jury selection process. This bill would also prohibit the broadcasting of conferences between attorneys and their clients, or the attorneys and the presiding judge if the conferences are not a part of the official record of court proceedings.

The Judicial Conference of the United States would be required to set forth guidelines for judges to follow when obscuring vulnerable witnesses.

This bill would sunset three years after its enactment, meaning authority for cameras to be in the courtroom would expire unless it’s reauthorized.

","official_title":"A bill to provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings.","short_title":"Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2017","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2017\n\nThis bill authorizes the presiding judge of a U.S. appellate court or U.S. district court to permit the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising to the public of court proceedings over which that judge presides, except when it would constitute a violation of the due process rights of any party.\n\nUpon the request of any witness in a trial proceeding other than a party, a district court must order the face and voice of the witness to be disguised or otherwise obscured to render the witness unrecognizable to the broadcast audience of the trial proceeding. The presiding judge in a trial proceeding must inform each witness who is not a party of the right to make such request.\n\nA presiding judge may obscure the face and voice of an individual if good cause is shown that photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising such features would threaten the individual's safety, the court's security, the integrity of futur...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate from the current session of Congress is unavailable. 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Make your voice heard about the issues you care about. \r\n","page_title":"Transparency Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/transparency/black_transparency-1453508996.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/transparency/grey_transparency-1453508996.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/transparency/white_transparency-1453508996.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"legal-affairs","name":"Legal Affairs","slug":"legal-affairs","description":"The US Congress regulates many aspects of American Legal Affairs, including: the US Federal Courts(Appellate and District), Judges, the US Supreme Court, Civil Action, The Constitution and Constitutional Amendments.","page_title":"US Federal legislation related to Legal Affairs, including the Constitution and the Supreme Court - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/legal-affairs/black_legal-affairs-1429042044.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/legal-affairs/grey_legal-affairs-1429042044.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/legal-affairs/white_legal-affairs-1429042044.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"Tim","vote_count":776,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/0Znx0Yy9/large_0znx0yy9-1517070538.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/0Znx0Yy9/small_0znx0yy9-1517070538.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/0Znx0Yy9/tiny_0znx0yy9-1517070538.jpg","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/10208186095710692/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/0Znx0Yy9/following","followers":"/api/users/0Znx0Yy9/followers"},"about_me":"Consent of the governed.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":31,"is_following":null,"influence_score":190,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":8,"following_count":0,"position_count":754,"id":"0Znx0Yy9","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"df33b44c-8539-46e3-869e-bb2c42ba1a8a","argument_for":"Yes. Then it will strike fear into the hearts of the citizens when they see exactly how bad the courts are- how getting trapped in the judicial system can ruin lives. A modern day “scared straight” example. ","argument_against":null,"show_argument_for":true,"show_argument_against":false,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":0,"upvotes_against_count":null,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/df33b44c-8539-46e3-869e-bb2c42ba1a8a"},"body":"Yes. Then it will strike fear into the hearts of the citizens when they see exactly how bad the courts are- how getting trapped in the judicial system can ruin lives. A modern day “scared straight” example. ","stance":"yea","created_at":"2018-07-03T22:44:41.397Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/df33b44c-8539-46e3-869e-bb2c42ba1a8a.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"s643-115","user_id":"0Znx0Yy9","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Cameras in the Court: Should Federal Court Proceedings be Broadcast?