The American Debate: A case for TV in top court

After much digging, I have unearthed an issue that draws bipartisan support and landslide public approval. It even puts me on the same side as conservative legal eagle Kenneth Starr.

We believe that U.S. Supreme Court proceedings should be televised.

This seems obvious, right? The nine robed brethren arguably hold the most powerful jobs in government, and they have the final word on virtually every hot-button dispute; as former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter remarked Tuesday, during congressional testimony, "the court decides who should live in abortion cases, who should die in the death-penalty cases."

Which is why we should be able to observe oral arguments, to see justices match wits with the lawyers in real time. Starr, the famed pursuer of Bill Clinton during the impeachment episode, rightly remarked this autumn that cameras in the high court are "long overdue." We must hold our public servants accountable; the more powerful the servant, the more warranted the scrutiny.

And surely the broadcast of intricate and nuanced argumentation would be the highest and best use of the medium. If Edward R. Murrow were alive, he'd probably say what Specter said Tuesday: "Television should cover the government as well as sports and soaps."

The TV issue has long been moving through the Washington miasma at the speed of a snail, mainly because the justices by tradition bridle at the prospect of transparency, but the issue has now resurfaced with some urgency because C-Span is seeking permission to broadcast the impending oral arguments on the historic health-reform law.

The court hasn't yet deigned to respond, but its hostility is well-established. During a Senate hearing two months ago, Justice Antonin Scalia said that the dumbed-down media would serve up simplicities to the great unwashed: "If I really thought the American people would get educated, I'd be all for it. . . . But for every 10 people who sat through our proceedings gavel to gavel, there would be 10,000 who would see nothing but a 30-second takeout from one of the proceedings, which I guarantee you would not be representative of what we do."