HARRISBURG - Lights. Camera. Oral arguments?
Indeed.
For the first time, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court - the oldest continuously sitting high court in the nation - is opening its courtrooms to cable television coverage.
After several tests over a six-month period, the seven-member court in June voted to allow the gavel-to-gavel coverage of arguments but did not announce the action publicly until Monday.
Just don't expect to watch a blow-by-blow crime drama like the recent Casey Anthony murder trial in Florida.
Under an exclusive agreement with Pennsylvania Cable Network, which had been petitioning the court since 2006 to allow its cameras in, the arguments will be taped for broadcast later.
"We felt it was a good educational tool to teach citizens what the third branch of government does," said Chief Justice Ron Castille in an interview Monday. "The theory is that people want transparency, and this will help show people who we are and what we do."
The Supreme Court - formed by William Penn in 1684 - makes its symbolic TV debut Sept. 13 at a historic venue: Old City Hall in Independence National Historical Park, where the court met until moving in 1882 in the new City Hall.
Castille said some justices remained concerned about the televising of sensitive cases such as those involving children and wanted to exert some modicum of control in those matters.
He added, though, that the taped broadcasts were a "first step" and that live broadcasts might come later.
He said that there had been resistance by some justices to cameras in the courtrooms in the past but that turnover in the high court had brought in a new generation of justices more open to "modern communications."
Matthew J. Crème Jr., president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, said he was pleased with the decision.
"This is something we at the PBA advocated for some time," Crème said. "We see it as an educational tool. Any opportunity for the public to see the justice system in operation helps build confidence in the system."
Castille said the courtroom antics that played out before international TV audiences in 1995 during the O.J. Simpson trial helped set back any decision to allow cameras here.
The latest decision comes more than a decade after the high court gave the go-ahead for the first cameras in a Pennsylvania courtroom.
In 1999, it voted to allow PCN to broadcast Superior Court proceedings and cleared the way in 2006 for broadcasts of Commonwealth Court proceedings.
Cameras are not permitted in Pennsylvania's Common Pleas Courts.
Virtually all other states allow electronic media into appellate courtrooms under certain conditions, for instance as long as the media presence does not cause a disruption.
"Pennsylvania is one of the last," said Brian Lockman, president of PCN and one of the original employees of C-Span, founded in 1979. "You'd think after 300 years they'd need to think about it a little, but I give credit to the chief justice for this."
A death-penalty case tops the docket when the high court reconvenes next month, and viewers can tune in for the legislative-redistricting battles likely to take place next year.
Lockman said, barring any news conflicts, PCN will cover all proceedings in the court's Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia courtrooms.
Neither PCN nor the state is paying the other for the broadcast rights, a court spokeswoman said.
Contact staff writer Amy Worden at 717-783-2584 or aworden@phillynews.com.
