THE BIGGEST MOB HIT IN YEARS

Lloyd D. Levenson’s – “Life at the Shore”
There is an old
saying that those
who like sausage or
who respect the law
should never watch
either one of them
being made. Strangely enough, the
Justices of the United States Supreme
Court, whether liberal, conservative, or
moderate, all seem to agree with this
principle. The late Chief Justice
Rehnquist, long an icon of judicial
conservatives, was strongly against
cameras in the Supreme Court, as is the
current Chief, John Roberts. Justice
Sonia Sotomayer, a favorite of liberals
and feminists, testified at her
confirmation hearings in 2009 that she
was all in favor of letting citizens watch
their government at work in the
Courtroom. Her public position now,
however, is that American citizens
would not comprehend what is going
on. Justice Elena Kagan, who also stated
at her confirmation hearings that
television coverage of the Supreme
Court “would be a great thing for the
institution,” now states that she is afraid
“that people might play to the camera.”
These two arguments: (1) that the
public is too stupid to understand what
is going on; and (2) that the Supreme
Court Justices would be tempted to
emulate Simon Cowell or Nicki Minaj
and mug for the camera, are the most
prevalent concerns registered.
In my opinion, neither of these
objections have any merit. I believe they
are directly contrary to the central
principle of American justice, which
favors transparency and openness at
virtually every step of a proceeding. As
John F. Kennedy stated in his famous
address to newspaper publishers in
April of 1961, “the very word ‘secrecy’
is repugnant in a free and open society. .
. . We decided long ago that the dangers
of excessive and unwarranted
concealment of pertinent facts far
outweighed the dangers, which are cited
to justify it.”
If, as the doubters insist, the public is
too ignorant to understand what goes on
before the United States Supreme Court,
is the answer to keep the public in
ignorance or to open the doors and make
them aware of what is happening? I
favor the latter approach.
If there are Justices of the United States
Supreme Court who will “play up” to
the cameras, and somehow shirk their
duty to decide cases fairly and
impartially, should the public not be
made aware of this? Or is it better to
simply sweep this fact under the rug?
These issues came to the fore again
recently during the highly publicized
Supreme Court arguments on “same
sex” marriage, when thousands of
people attempted to obtain precious
tickets for the few gallery spots available
to watch the Supreme Court in action
and to hear the arguments being made.
The notion that only the small and elite
group who scored tickets could watch
the Supreme Court, while the rest of us
were relegated to news reports later in
the day, is wholly unacceptable.
We need only look at other high
courts which have opened their doors
to wide press coverage, and which have
experienced no ill effects, to see that the
“concerns” usually cited are illusory.
The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court,
the Supreme Court of Canada, and the
New Jersey Supreme Court all have live
television or webcasts of their
arguments. None of these august
bodies have descended into chaos
because of television cameras.
The United States Supreme Court has
increasingly been the well-spring of
important new legal principles, dealing
with areas considered “too hot to
handle” by the Legislature or the
Executive. Their decisions effect the
lives of Americans on a daily basis. The
notion that we are too ignorant to
watch the Supreme Court is insulting
and elitist. At the same time, the claim
that the Justices themselves lack the
maturity to resist “playing to the
camera” during oral argument is
contemptuous of the exceptional men
and women who are selected to serve
on this nation’s highest Court.
The time has come to take the heavy,
dusty drapes off the windows and to let
the sun shine into that beautiful
building in Washington where the
United States Supreme Court sits.
Lloyd D. Levenson is Chief Executive
Officer of the Atlantic City-based law firm Cooper
Levenson and Chairman of the firm’s Casino Law
Departments in Atlantic City and
Las Vegas. Mr. Levenson may be reached at
(609)344-3161 or by email at
ldlevenson@cooperlevenson.com.
The Boardwalk Journal | May 2013 | 31