I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 917 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 

Mr. KING of Iowa (for himself, Mr. DEUTCH, and Mr. CHAFFETZ) introduced 

the following bill; which was 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 2015’’. 

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 1 judge participates, the presiding judge shall 

12 be the senior active judge so participating or, in the 


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1 case of a circuit court of appeals, the senior active 

2 circuit judge so participating, except that— 

3 (A) in en banc sittings of any United 

4 States circuit court of appeals, the presiding 

5 judge shall be the chief judge of the circuit 

6 whenever the chief judge participates; and 

7 (B) in en banc sittings of the Supreme 

8 Court of the United States, the presiding judge 

9 shall be the Chief Justice whenever the Chief 

10 Justice participates. 

11 (2) APPELLATE COURT OF THE UNITED

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

13 States’’ means any United States circuit court of ap14 peals and the Supreme Court of the United States. 

15 (b) AUTHORITY OF PRESIDING JUDGE TO ALLOW

16 MEDIA COVERAGE OF COURT PROCEEDINGS.— 

17 (1) AUTHORITY OF APPELLATE COURTS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

19 under subparagraph (B), the presiding judge of 

20 an appellate court of the United States may, at 

21 the discretion of that judge, permit the 

22 photographing, electronic recording, broad23 casting, or televising to the public of any court 

24 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 1 judge, 

11 a majority of the judges participating de12 termine that the action would constitute a 

13 violation of the due process rights of any 

14 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 for purposes of 

10 photographing, recording, broad11 casting, or televising the witness de12 scribed in clause (i); and 

13 (II) the presiding judge in a trial 

14 proceeding shall inform each witness 

15 who is not a party that the witness 

16 has the right to request the image and 

17 voice of that witness to be obscured 

18 during the witness’s testimony. 

19 (iii) EXCEPTION.—The presiding 

20 judge shall not permit any action under 

21 this subparagraph if that judge determines 

22 the action would constitute a violation of 

23 the due process rights of any party. 

24 (B) NO MEDIA COVERAGE OF JURORS.— 

25 The presiding judge shall not permit the 


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1 photographing, electronic recording, broad2 casting, or televising of any juror in a trial pro3 ceeding, or of the jury selection process. 

4 (3) INTERLOCUTORY APPEALS BARRED.—The 

5 decision of the presiding judge under this subsection 

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

7 photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or 

8 televising of a court proceeding may not be chal9 lenged through an interlocutory appeal. 

10 (4) GUIDELINES.—The Judicial Conference of 

11 the United States may promulgate guidelines with 

12 respect to the management and administration of 

13 photographing, recording, broadcasting, or televising 

14 described under paragraphs (1) and (2). 

15 (5) SUNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHORITY.— 

16 The authority under paragraph (2) shall terminate 

17 upon the expiration of the 3-year period beginning 

18 on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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

20 and fairness, the presiding judge of the court in 

21 which media use is desired has discretion to promul22 gate rules and disciplinary measures for the court23 room use of any form of media or media equipment 

24 and the acquisition or distribution of any of the im25 ages or sounds obtained in the courtroom. The preVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Feb 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H917.IH H917

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1 siding judge shall also have discretion to require 

2 written acknowledgment of the rules by anyone indi3 vidually or on behalf of any entity before being al4 lowed to acquire any images or sounds from the 

5 courtroom. 

Æ 


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