Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2008

A bill to provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings.

3/13/2008--Reported to Senate amended. Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2008 - 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 such action would constitute a violation of the due process rights of any party.
Directs:
(1) a district court, upon the request of any witness in a trial proceeding other than a party, to 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; and
(2) the presiding judge in a trial proceeding to inform each witness who is not a party of the right to make such request. Prohibits the presiding judge from permitting the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising of any juror in a trial proceeding, or of the jury selection process. Gives the presiding judge the discretion to obscure the face and voice of an individual under certain conditions if good cause can be shown that the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising of the individual would threaten the individual's safety. Prohibits any interlocutory appeal of the decision of the presiding judge of whether or not to permit, deny, or terminate the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising of a court proceeding. Directs the Judicial Conference of the United States to promulgate advisory guidelines to which a presiding judge is required to refer in making decisions regarding the management and administration of photographing, recording, broadcasting, or televising described in this Act. Prohibits any audio pickup or broadcast of conferences in a court proceeding between attorneys and their clients, between co-counsel of a client, between adverse counsel, or between counsel and the presiding judge, if the conferences are not part of the official record of the proceedings.

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Sponsor

• Sen. Charles Grassley [R, IA]
• and 9 Co-Sponsors
  • Sen. Wayne Allard [R, CO]
  • Sen. John Cornyn [R, TX]
  • Sen. Larry Craig [R, ID]
  • Sen. Richard Durbin [D, IL]
  • Sen. Russell Feingold [D, WI]
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham [R, SC]
  • Sen. Patrick Leahy [D, VT]
  • Sen. Charles Schumer [D, NY]
  • Sen. Arlen Specter [R, PA]
  close

Committees

• Senate Judiciary

Amendments

This bill has no amendments.

Amendments to S.352

Number	Status	Purpose

Bill Status

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Introduced		Voted on by Senate		Voted on by House		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
January 22, 2007

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All Bill Actions

• Added to calendar on Mar 13, 2008: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 618..
• Mar 13, 2008: Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Leahy with amendments. Without written report.
• Mar 06, 2008: Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered to be reported with amendments favorably.
• Mar 06, 2008: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Feb 14, 2008: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Jan 31, 2008: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Dec 13, 2007: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Dec 06, 2007: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Nov 15, 2007: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Nov 08, 2007: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Nov 01, 2007: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m.
• Feb 14, 2007: Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held.
• Jan 22, 2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
• Jan 22, 2007: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S837)
• Introduced on Jan 22, 2007.
• Jan 22, 2007: Introductory remarks on measure. (CR S837)

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Related Bills:

• H.R.2128

Related Issue Areas:

• Law
• Administration of justice
• Appellate courts
• Civil procedure
• 18 more
• Communications
• Court reporting
• Criminal justice
• Criminal procedure
• District courts
• Due process of law
• Humanities
• Judges
• Juries
• Photography
• Radio broadcasting
• Sound recording and reproducing
• Supreme Court
• Technology
• Telecommunication
• Television broadcasting
• Video tape recording
• Witnesses

Data from the Congressional Research Service

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In the News

March 07, 2008 Senate panel endorses cameras in federal courts

The panel voted 10-8-1 to send the S. 352, the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2007, to the Senate floor. The House Judiciary Committee endorsed similar ...

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Blog Coverage

July 19, 2008 Five Topics

Here you can find comments from various Supreme Court Justices regarding their opinions of cameras in the courtroom. There is currently a bill in the Senate, S.352, also known as the "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2008," which would ...

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Source: Todd's Juris Journal

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July 09, 2008 Insurance Litigation

HR 2128 and S.352: The Sunshine in the Courtroom Bills of 2007 There have been various efforts within the United States Congress to open federal courts to televised media coverage. Although not the first of these, the widely hailed . ...

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Source: insurance litigation

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March 21, 2008 S. 352, Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2008

Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on March 6, 2008.

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