II 

Calendar No. 27 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 410 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 17, 2011 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. 

CORNYN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

APRIL 7 (legislative day, APRIL 5), 2011 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, without amendment 

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 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL APPELLATE AND DISTRICT COURTS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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

2 judge’’ means the judge presiding over the court 

3 proceeding concerned. In proceedings in which more 

4 than 1 judge participates, the presiding judge shall 

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

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

7 circuit judge so participating, except that— 

8 (A) in en banc sittings of any United 

9 States circuit court of appeals, the presiding 

10 judge shall be the chief judge of the circuit 

11 whenever the chief judge participates; and 

12 (B) in en banc sittings of the Supreme 

13 Court of the United States, the presiding judge 

14 shall be the Chief Justice whenever the Chief 

15 Justice participates. 

16 (2) APPELLATE COURT OF THE UNITED

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

18 States’’ means any United States circuit court of ap19 peals and the Supreme Court of the United States. 

20 (b) AUTHORITY OF PRESIDING JUDGE TO ALLOW

21 MEDIA COVERAGE OF COURT PROCEEDINGS.— 

22 (1) AUTHORITY OF APPELLATE COURTS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

24 under subparagraph (B), the presiding judge of 

25 an appellate court of the United States may, at 


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1 the discretion of that judge, permit the 

2 photographing, electronic recording, broad3 casting, or televising to the public of any court 

4 proceeding over which that judge presides. 

5 (B) EXCEPTION.—The presiding judge 

6 shall not permit any action under subparagraph 

7 (A), if— 

8 (i) in the case of a proceeding involv9 ing only the presiding judge, that judge de10 termines the action would constitute a vio11 lation of the due process rights of any 

12 party; or 

13 (ii) in the case of a proceeding involv14 ing the participation of more than 1 judge, 

15 a majority of the judges participating de16 termine that the action would constitute a 

17 violation of the due process rights of any 

18 party. 

19 (2) AUTHORITY OF DISTRICT COURTS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.— 

21 (i) AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding 

22 any other provision of law, except as pro23 vided under clause (iii), the presiding judge 

24 of a district court of the United States 

25 may, at the discretion of that judge, perVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:17 Apr 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S410.RS S410

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1 mit the photographing, electronic record2 ing, broadcasting, or televising to the pub3 lic of any court proceeding over which that 

4 judge presides. 

5 (ii) OBSCURING OF WITNESSES.—Ex6 cept as provided under clause (iii)— 

7 (I) upon the request of any wit8 ness (other than a party) in a trial 

9 proceeding, the court shall order the 

10 face and voice of the witness to be 

11 disguised or otherwise obscured in 

12 such manner as to render the witness 

13 unrecognizable to the broadcast audi14 ence of the trial proceeding; and 

15 (II) the presiding judge in a trial 

16 proceeding shall inform each witness 

17 who is not a party that the witness 

18 has the right to request the image and 

19 voice of that witness to be obscured 

20 during the witness’ testimony. 

21 (iii) EXCEPTION.—The presiding 

22 judge shall not permit any action under 

23 this subparagraph— 

24 (I) if that judge determines the 

25 action would constitute a violation of 


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1 the due process rights of any party; 

2 and 

3 (II) until the Judicial Conference 

4 of the United States promulgates 

5 mandatory guidelines under para6 graph (5). 

7 (B) NO MEDIA COVERAGE OF JURORS.— 

8 The presiding judge shall not permit the 

9 photographing, electronic recording, broad10 casting, or televising of any juror in a trial pro11 ceeding, or of the jury selection process. 

12 (C) DISCRETION OF THE JUDGE.—The 

13 presiding judge shall have the discretion to ob14 scure the face and voice of an individual, if 

15 good cause is shown that the photographing, 

16 electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising 

17 of the individual would threaten— 

18 (i) the safety of the individual; 

19 (ii) the security of the court; 

20 (iii) the integrity of future or ongoing 

21 law enforcement operations; or 

22 (iv) the interest of justice. 

23 (D) SUNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHOR24 ITY.—The authority under this paragraph shall 


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1 terminate 3 years after the date of the enact2 ment of this Act. 

3 (3) INTERLOCUTORY APPEALS BARRED.—The 

4 decision of the presiding judge under this subsection 

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

6 photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or 

7 televising of a court proceeding may not be chal8 lenged through an interlocutory appeal. 

9 (4) ADVISORY GUIDELINES.—The Judicial Con10 ference of the United States may promulgate advi11 sory guidelines to which a presiding judge, at the 

12 discretion of that judge, may refer in making deci13 sions with respect to the management and adminis14 tration of photographing, recording, broadcasting, or 

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

16 (5) MANDATORY GUIDELINES.—Not later than 

17 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

18 the Judicial Conference of the United States shall 

19 promulgate mandatory guidelines which a presiding 

20 judge is required to follow for obscuring of certain 

21 vulnerable witnesses, including crime victims, minor 

22 victims, families of victims, cooperating witnesses, 

23 undercover law enforcement officers or agents, wit24 nesses subject to section 3521 of title 18, United 

25 States Code, relating to witness relocation and proVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:17 Apr 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S410.RS S410

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1 tection, or minors under the age of 18 years. The 

2 guidelines shall include procedures for determining, 

3 at the earliest practicable time in any investigation 

4 or case, which witnesses should be considered vulner5 able under this section. 

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

7 and fairness, the presiding judge of the court in 

8 which media use is desired has discretion to promul9 gate rules and disciplinary measures for the court10 room use of any form of media or media equipment 

11 and the acquisition or distribution of any of the im12 ages or sounds obtained in the courtroom. The pre13 siding judge shall also have discretion to require 

14 written acknowledgment of the rules by anyone indi15 vidually or on behalf of any entity before being al16 lowed to acquire any images or sounds from the 

17 courtroom. 

18 (7) NO BROADCAST OF CONFERENCES BE19 TWEEN ATTORNEYS AND CLIENTS.—There shall be 

20 no audio pickup or broadcast of conferences which 

21 occur in a court proceeding between attorneys and 

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

23 adverse counsel, or between counsel and the pre24 siding judge, if the conferences are not part of the 

25 official record of the proceedings. 


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

2 accommodations to effectuate this Act be made with3 out public expense. 

4 (9) INHERENT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 

5 Act shall limit the inherent authority of a court to 

6 protect witnesses or clear the courtroom to preserve 

7 the decorum and integrity of the legal process or 

8 protect the safety of an individual. 


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Calendar No. 27 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 410 

A BILL 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court 

proceedings. 

APRIL 7 (legislative day, APRIL 5), 2011 

Reported without amendment 


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