Cameras might be coming to the nation's highest court if Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan were to have her say. In a CSPAN interview last summer, Solicitor General Kagan said of cameras,
"I've thought about this question a bit. If cameras were in the courtroom, the American public would see an amazing and extraordinary event. This court is so smart and so prepared and so engaged. And everybody who gets up there at the podium is -- the toughest questions, the most challenging questions are thrown at that person...I think if you put cameras in the courtroom people would see, 'Wow,' they would see an institution of government I think working at a really high level. So that's one plus factor for doing it."
Last year, when Senator Kohl asked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about courtroom cameras, then-nominee Sotomayor gave a more guarded response:
"I have had positive experiences with cameras. When I have been asked to join experiments using cameras in the courtroom, I have participated...I would be a new voice in the discussion, and new voices often...consider taking different approaches."
If Justice Sotomayor's words were considered relatively supportive of opening the federal judiciary to cameras, nominee Kagan's words suggest an even stronger commitment to openness -- at least with respect to the Supreme Court.
