II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 818 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 18, 2021 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. 

LEAHY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sunshine in the Court5 room Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL APPELLATE AND DISTRICT COURTS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) PRESIDING JUDGE.—The term ‘‘presiding 

9 judge’’ means the judge presiding over the court 

10 proceeding concerned. In proceedings in which more 

11 than one judge participates, the presiding judge 


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1 shall be the senior active judge so participating or, 

2 in the case of a circuit court of appeals, the senior 

3 active circuit judge so participating, except that— 

4 (A) in en banc sittings of any United 

5 States circuit court of appeals, the presiding 

6 judge shall be the chief judge of the circuit 

7 whenever the chief judge participates; and 

8 (B) in en banc sittings of the Supreme 

9 Court of the United States, the presiding judge 

10 shall be the Chief Justice whenever the Chief 

11 Justice participates. 

12 (2) APPELLATE COURT OF THE UNITED

13 STATES.—The term ‘‘appellate court of the United 

14 States’’ means any United States circuit court of ap15 peals and the Supreme Court of the United States. 

16 (b) AUTHORITY OF PRESIDING JUDGE TO ALLOW

17 MEDIA COVERAGE OF COURT PROCEEDINGS.— 

18 (1) AUTHORITY OF APPELLATE COURTS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

20 under subparagraph (B), the presiding judge of 

21 an appellate court of the United States may, at 

22 the discretion of that judge, permit the 

23 photographing, electronic recording, broad24 casting, or televising to the public of any court 

25 proceeding over which that judge presides. 


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1 (B) EXCEPTION.—The presiding judge 

2 shall not permit any action under subparagraph 

3 (A), if— 

4 (i) in the case of a proceeding involv5 ing only the presiding judge, that judge de6 termines the action would constitute a vio7 lation of the due process rights of any 

8 party; or 

9 (ii) in the case of a proceeding involv10 ing the participation of more than one 

11 judge, a majority of the judges partici12 pating determine that the action would 

13 constitute a violation of the due process 

14 rights of any party. 

15 (2) AUTHORITY OF DISTRICT COURTS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.— 

17 (i) AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding 

18 any other provision of law, except as pro19 vided under clause (iii), the presiding judge 

20 of a district court of the United States 

21 may, at the discretion of that judge, per22 mit the photographing, electronic record23 ing, broadcasting, or televising to the pub24 lic of any court proceeding over which that 

25 judge presides. 


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1 (ii) OBSCURING OF WITNESSES.—Ex2 cept as provided under clause (iii)— 

3 (I) upon the request of any wit4 ness (other than a party) in a trial 

5 proceeding, the court shall order the 

6 face and voice of the witness to be 

7 disguised or otherwise obscured in 

8 such manner as to render the witness 

9 unrecognizable to the broadcast audi10 ence of the trial proceeding; and 

11 (II) the presiding judge in a trial 

12 proceeding shall inform each witness 

13 who is not a party that the witness 

14 has the right to request the image and 

15 voice of that witness to be obscured 

16 during the testimony of the witness. 

17 (iii) EXCEPTION.—The presiding 

18 judge shall not permit any action under 

19 this subparagraph— 

20 (I) if that judge determines the 

21 action would constitute a violation of 

22 the due process rights of any party; 

23 and 

24 (II) until the Judicial Conference 

25 of the United States promulgates 


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1 mandatory guidelines under para2 graph (5). 

3 (B) NO MEDIA COVERAGE OF JURORS.— 

4 The presiding judge shall not permit the 

5 photographing, electronic recording, broad6 casting, or televising of any juror in a trial pro7 ceeding, or of the jury selection process. 

8 (C) DISCRETION OF THE JUDGE.—The 

9 presiding judge shall have the discretion to ob10 scure the face and voice of an individual, if 

11 good cause is shown that the photographing, 

12 electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising 

13 of the individual would threaten— 

14 (i) the safety of the individual; 

15 (ii) the security of the court; 

16 (iii) the integrity of future or ongoing 

17 law enforcement operations; or 

18 (iv) the interest of justice. 

19 (D) SUNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHOR20 ITY.—The authority under this paragraph shall 

21 terminate 3 years after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act. 

23 (3) INTERLOCUTORY APPEALS BARRED.—The 

24 decision of the presiding judge under this subsection 

25 of whether or not to permit, deny, or terminate the 


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1 photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or 

2 televising of a court proceeding may not be chal3 lenged through an interlocutory appeal. 

4 (4) ADVISORY GUIDELINES.—The Judicial Con5 ference of the United States may promulgate advi6 sory guidelines to which a presiding judge, at the 

7 discretion of that judge, may refer in making deci8 sions with respect to the management and adminis9 tration of photographing, recording, broadcasting, or 

10 televising described under paragraphs (1) and (2). 

11 (5) MANDATORY GUIDELINES.—Not later than 

12 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

13 the Judicial Conference of the United States shall 

14 promulgate mandatory guidelines that a presiding 

15 judge is required to follow for obscuring of certain 

16 vulnerable witnesses, including crime victims, minor 

17 victims, families of victims, cooperating witnesses, 

18 undercover law enforcement officers or agents, wit19 nesses subject to section 3521 of title 18, United 

20 States Code, relating to witness relocation and pro21 tection, or minors under the age of 18 years. The 

22 guidelines shall include procedures for determining, 

23 at the earliest practicable time in any investigation 

24 or case, which witnesses should be considered vulner25 able under this section. 


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1 (6) PROCEDURES.—In the interests of justice 

2 and fairness, the presiding judge of the court in 

3 which media use is desired has discretion to promul4 gate rules and disciplinary measures for the court5 room use of any form of media or media equipment 

6 and the acquisition or distribution of any of the im7 ages or sounds obtained in the courtroom. The pre8 siding judge shall also have discretion to require 

9 written acknowledgment of the rules by anyone indi10 vidually or on behalf of any entity before being al11 lowed to acquire any images or sounds from the 

12 courtroom. 

13 (7) NO BROADCAST OF CONFERENCES BE14 TWEEN ATTORNEYS AND CLIENTS.—There shall be 

15 no audio pickup or broadcast of conferences which 

16 occur in a court proceeding between attorneys and 

17 their clients, between co-counsel of a client, between 

18 adverse counsel, or between counsel and the pre19 siding judge, if the conferences are not part of the 

20 official record of the proceedings. 

21 (8) EXPENSES.—A court may require that any 

22 accommodations to effectuate this Act be made with23 out public expense. 

24 (9) INHERENT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 

25 Act shall limit the inherent authority of a court to 


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1 protect witnesses or clear the courtroom to preserve 

2 the decorum and integrity of the legal process or 

3 protect the safety of an individual. 

Æ 


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