Senator Chuck Grassley (file photo)
Senator Chuck Grassley is prodding the U.S Supreme Court to release all audio recordings of the oral arguments it hears — on the same day the lawyers appear in the courtroom before the justices.
The Supreme Court has released audio in the past, in a few cases. “What’s the big mystery?” Grassley asked yesterday during a telephone conference call with Iowa radio reporters.
The court released the audio recordings of the lawyers making arguments on President Trump’s travel ban on the day the lawyers appeared before the court. Otherwise, audio of U.S. Supreme Court proceedings are posted online on Fridays during weeks when the court is hearing legal arguments.
“Why they would need extra days to release the arguments that are made, I don’t know. but my point of view comes from the standpoint that transparency brings accountability and the sooner that accountability is available to the public, the better off we are,” Grassley said. ”
Grassley has been calling for getting cameras into federal courtrooms for years.
“There’s some mystery about the judicial branches of government and when TV can be in the courts, as it is in 46 of 50 states, I think that helps people’s understanding of it,” Grassley said.
A few federal judges are allowing cameras in their courtrooms, but they’ve never been allowed in the U.S. Supreme Court. Grassley, a Republican, is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the panel’s top Democrat has joined with Grassley in this new push for the release of audio recordings from court proceedings.