II 

Calendar No. 618 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 352 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 22, 2007 

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

GRAHAM, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. CRAIG, and 

Mr. ALLARD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

MARCH 13, 2008 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

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 2007 2008’’ 

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 Aug 31 2005 05:52 Mar 14, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S352.RS S352

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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, if that judge deter24 mines the action would constitute a viola25 tion of the due process rights of any party. 


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1 (iii) EXCEPTION.—The presiding judge 

2 shall not permit any action under this sub3 paragraph— 

4 (I) if that judge determines the 

5 action would constitute a violation of 

6 the due process rights of any party; 

7 and 

8 (II) until the Judicial Conference 

9 of the United States promulgates man10 datory guidelines under paragraph (5). 

11 (B) NO TELEVISING OF JURORS.—The 

12 presiding judge shall not permit the televising 

13 of any juror in a trial proceeding. 

14 (B) NO MEDIA COVERAGE OF JURORS.—The 

15 presiding judge shall not permit the 

16 photographing, electronic recording, broad17 casting, or televising of any juror in a trial pro18 ceeding, or of the jury selection process. 

19 (C) DISCRETION OF THE JUDGE.—The pre20 siding judge shall have the discretion to obscure 

21 the face and voice of an individual, if good cause 

22 is shown that the photographing, electronic re23 cording, broadcasting, or televising of the indi24 vidual would threaten— 

25 (i) the safety of the individual; 


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1 (ii) the security of the court; 

2 (iii) the integrity of future or ongoing 

3 law enforcement operations; or 

4 (iv) the interest of justice. 

5 (D) SUNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHOR6 ITY.—The authority under this paragraph shall 

7 terminate 3 years after the date of the enactment 

8 of this Act. 

9 (3) INTERLOCUTORY APPEALS BARRED.—The de10 cision of the presiding judge under this subsection of 

11 whether or not to permit, deny, or terminate the 

12 photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or 

13 televising of a court proceeding may not be challenged 

14 through an interlocutory appeal. 

15 (3)(4) ADVISORY GUIDELINES.—The Judicial 

16 Conference of the United States may promulgate ad17 visory guidelines to which a presiding judge, at the 

18 discretion of that judge, may refer in making deci19 sions with respect to the management and adminis20 tration of photographing, recording, broadcasting, or 

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

22 (4) SUNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHORITY.— 

23 The authority under paragraph (2) shall terminate 

24 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (5) MANDATORY GUIDELINES.—Not later than 6 

2 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ju3 dicial Conference of the United States shall promul4 gate mandatory guidelines which a presiding judge is 

5 required to follow for obscuring of certain vulnerable 

6 witnesses, including crime victims, minor victims, 

7 families of victims, cooperating witnesses, undercover 

8 law enforcement officers or agents, witnesses subject to 

9 section 3521 of title 18, United States Code, relating 

10 to witness relocation and protection, or minors under 

11 the age of 18 years. The guidelines shall include pro12 cedures for determining, at the earliest practicable 

13 time in any investigation or case, which witnesses 

14 should be considered vulnerable under this section. 

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

16 and fairness, the presiding judge of the court in which 

17 media use is desired has discretion to promulgate 

18 rules and disciplinary measures for the courtroom use 

19 of any form of media or media equipment and the ac20 quisition or distribution of any of the images or 

21 sounds obtained in the courtroom. The presiding 

22 judge shall also have discretion to require written ac23 knowledgment of the rules by anyone individually or 

24 on behalf of any entity before being allowed to acquire 

25 any images or sounds from the courtroom. 


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1 (7) NO BROADCAST OF CONFERENCES BETWEEN

2 ATTORNEYS AND CLIENTS.—There shall be no audio 

3 pickup or broadcast of conferences which occur in a 

4 court proceeding between attorneys and their clients, 

5 between co-counsel of a client, between adverse coun6 sel, or between counsel and the presiding judge, if the 

7 conferences are not part of the official record of the 

8 proceedings. 

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

10 accommodations to effectuate this Act be made with11 out public expense. 

12 (9) INHERENT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this Act 

13 shall limit the inherent authority of a court to protect 

14 witnesses or clear the courtroom to preserve the deco15 rum and integrity of the legal process or protect the 

16 safety of an individual. 


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Calendar No. 618 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 352 

A BILL 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court 

proceedings. 

MARCH 13, 2008 

Reported with amendments 


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