Though cameras in the courtroom were by no means favored by Justice David Souter (he warned they'd have to "roll over my dead body" to get into the Supreme Court), it sounds like his potential replacement wouldn't mind them. Sonia Sotomayor gave a non-answer to Sen. Herb Kohl's (D-WI) question about cameras in the Supreme Court this morning, on the second day of her Senate confirmation hearing. She's had good experiences with cameras in her appellate courtroom when participating in experiments, she acknowledged today, and Sotomayor said she makes it a practice, when coming to a new court, to
"understand and listen to my colleagues about why certain practices were necessary or helpful, or why certain practices were necessary or helpful, or why
certain practices shouldn't be done or new procedures tried, and then
spend my time trying to convince them."
Sotomayor said she wouldn't come to the Supreme Court with prejudgment
about its practices, and she made it clear that she would regognize her
role as a newcomer. But she did say she "would be the new voice in the
discussion, and new voices often see things and talk about them and
consider taking new approaches."
So, ultimately, it was a non-answer, but Sotomayor did hint that she'd
"consider taking new approaches," and it sounded like she may not mind
cameras in the nation's highest court.
UPDATE: See video of the exchange below, courtesy of C-SPAN's video library:
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http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/07/sotomayor-wouldnt-mind-cameras-in-supreme-court/21254/
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