I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1281

To allow media coverage of court proceedings.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 25, 1999

Mr. CHABOT (for himself, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. DELAY, Mrs. MCCARTHY of

New York, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. HILL of Montana, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr.

GEKAS, Mr. SCARBOROUGH, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr.

HILLEARY, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. DIXON, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr.

GIBBONS, Mr. COBLE, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SALMON, Mr.

ENGLISH, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. HULSHOF, Mrs.

CHENOWETH, Mr. WEINER, Mr. BAKER, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. TIERNEY,

Mr. RAHALL, Mr. BRYANT, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. TRAFICANT,

Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. HAYES, Mr. MCCOLLUM, and Mr. ROGAN) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To allow media coverage of court proceedings.

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

3 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa4 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

5 SECTION. 1. AUTHORITY OF PRESIDING JUDGE TO ALLOW

6 MEDIA COVERAGE OF COURT PROCEEDINGS.

7 (a) AUTHORITY OF APPELLATE COURTS.—Notwith8 standing any other provision of law, the presiding judge
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1 of an appellate court of the United States may, in his or

2 her discretion, permit the photographing, electronic re3 cording, broadcasting, or televising to the public of court

4 proceedings over which that judge presides.

5 (b) AUTHORITY OF DISTRICT COURTS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

7 provision of law, any presiding judge of a district

8 court of the United States may, in his or her discre9 tion, permit the photographing, electronic recording,

10 broadcasting, or televising to the public of court pro11 ceedings over which that judge presides.

12 (2) OBSCURING OF WITNESSES.—(A) Upon the

13 request of any witness in a trial proceeding other

14 than a party, the court shall order the face and voice

15 of the witness to be disguised or otherwise obscured

16 in such manner as to render the witness unrecogniz17 able to the broadcast audience of the trial pro18 ceeding.

19 (B) The presiding judge in a trial proceeding

20 shall inform each witness who is not a party that the

21 witness has the right to request that his or her

22 image and voice be obscured during the witness’ tes23 timony.

24 (c) ADVISORY GUIDELINES.—The Judicial Con25 ference of the United States is authorized to promulgate
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1 advisory guidelines to which a presiding judge, in his or

2 her discretion, may refer in making decisions with respect

3 to the management and administration of photographing,

4 recording, broadcasting, or televising described in sub5 sections (a) and (b).

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 As used in this Act:

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

12 shall be the senior active judge so participating or,

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

14 active circuit judge so participating, except that—

15 (A) in en banc sittings of any United

16 States circuit court of appeals, the presiding

17 judge shall be the chief judge of the circuit

18 whenever the chief judge participates; and

19 (B) in en banc sittings of the Supreme

20 Court of the United States, the presiding judge

21 shall be the Chief Justice whenever the Chief

22 Justice participates.

23 (2) APPELLATE COURT OF THE UNITED

24 STATES.—The term ‘‘appellate court of the United
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1 States’’ means any United States circuit court of ap2 peals and the Supreme Court of the United States.

3 SEC. 3. SUNSET.

4 The authority under section 1(b) shall terminate on

5 the date that is 3 years after the date of the enactment

6 of this Act.

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