87 Organizations Urge Supreme Court to Make Live Audio Streaming Permanent and Accessible

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Dear Chief Justice Roberts:

The 87 undersigned civil society, media, disability rights, and government transparency organizations write to urge the Court to commit to providing live audio access to oral arguments on a permanent basis.

Providing live audio access to cases during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has convincingly demonstrated the public’s appetite to observe the operations of the Court. It has also shown that the Court can balance increased public access with the integrity of its proceedings. Equitable access to the Court as an institution is imperative for all Americans.

Typically, when the Court is open, only 50 to 100 members of the general public are able to attend in-person oral arguments in each case. But in May 2020, the Court began providing the media pool a live audio feed of oral arguments. To increase accessibility, media organizations provided captions in real time. Instead of the 500 to 1,000 people who would have been able to attend the session’s 10 cases in person, more than 130,000 people streamed the arguments live.

As of September 2021, oral arguments from the May 2020 session have been streamed over 2 million times, and those from the October 2020 term are fast approaching 1 million streams.¹

The demonstrated public interest in these audio broadcasts confirms that the time has come for regular, live access to the Court’s proceedings. The public interest in keeping live audio access to oral arguments outweighs any potential logistical challenge in offering the same streaming opportunities when the Justices return to the Court in person. Limiting real-time access to the Court to those with the ability and means to travel to Washington, DC, and to wait in line for hours, even overnight, makes the Court inaccessible to most Americans. Every member of the public deserves the same access to what’s happening in these cases before the Court.

All federal courts of appeals have held remote oral arguments since the beginning of the pandemic, and both the 9^th and DC Circuits have committed to livestreaming arguments post-pandemic.² Forty-one states and the District of Columbia stream video of some oral arguments in their jurisdiction’s highest court, while at least six more stream live audio.³

In providing similar access, the nation’s highest court would follow what the lower courts, both federal and state, have already discovered: Giving the public more insight into judicial proceedings reduces the sense that the courts are somehow separate from the public they serve.

During the Supreme Court’s live oral arguments, large numbers of the public have tuned in, giving many Americans their first opportunity to learn about the Court and its proceedings. These advancements have also provided journalists the opportunity to report to their audiences about cases contemporaneously. The public has a right to know what the most powerful court in our country is doing.

Fair and equal justice can’t be delivered without accountability and transparency. Ensuring that live audio of oral arguments remains accessible to the public and requiring media pool participants to caption that audio in real time with live transcription and American Sign Language interpretation would promote transparency and increase public confidence in the nation’s highest court.

Sincerely,

ABC NewsACORN8Advance Publications, Inc.ALM Media, LLCAmerican Civil Liberties UnionAssociation for Alternative NewsmediaBloomberg NewsBoston Globe Media Partners, LLCCalifornia News Publishers AssociationCalifornians AwareCitizen Advocacy CenterConstitutional Accountability CenterCourthouse News ServiceCriminal Justice JournalistsDemand JusticeDemand Progress Education FundElectronic Privacy Information CenterEquity ForwardFirst Amendment CoalitionFirst Look Institute, Inc., publisher of The InterceptFix Democracy FirstFix the CourtForbes Media LLCFreedom of the Press FoundationGannett Co., Inc.Government Information WatchInter American Press AssociationInternational Documentary AssociationInvestigative Reporting Workshop at American UniversityLambda Legal Defense and Education FundLos Angeles Press ClubLos Angeles Times Communications LLCMedia Law Resource CenterMediaNews GroupMPA - The Association of Magazine MediaNational Association of Black JournalistsNational Association of BroadcastersNational Center for Health ResearchNational Council of Jewish WomenNational Disability Rights Network (NDRN)National Freedom of Information CoalitionNational Newspaper AssociationNational Press Photographers AssociationNational Security CounselorsNational Taxpayers UnionNational Urban LeagueNative American Journalists AssociationNew England First Amendment CoalitionNew England Newspaper & Press AssociationNews Leaders AssociationNews Media AllianceOhio Valley Environmental CoalitionOpen The GovernmentPeople's Parity ProjectPlanned Parenthood Federation of AmericaPOLITICO LLCProject On Government OversightProtect DemocracyPublic CitizenPublic Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)Pulitzer CenterR Street InstituteRadio Television Digital News AssociationReporters Committee for Freedom of the PressReporters Without Borders USASinclair Broadcast GroupSlateSociety of Environmental JournalistsSociety of Professional JournalistsTaxpayers Protection AllianceTEGNA Inc.The Arc of the United StatesThe Atlantic Monthly Group LLCThe Daily Beast CompanyThe Digital Democracy ProjectThe Media InstituteThe National Press ClubThe National Press Club Journalism InstituteThe NewsGuild-CWAThe Washington PostTIMETransparency International — U.S. OfficeTribune Publishing CompanyTully Center for Free SpeechWhistleblowers of AmericaWNETWomen Lawyers On Guard Action Network, Inc.

cc: Associate Justice Clarence ThomasAssociate Justice Stephen G. BreyerAssociate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.Associate Justice Sonia SotomayorAssociate Justice Elena KaganAssociate Justice Neil M. GorsuchAssociate Justice Brett M. KavanaughAssociate Justice Amy Coney Barrett