I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2802 

To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 5, 2011 

Mr. CHABOT (for himself, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, Ms. ZOE

LOFGREN of California, and Mr. DEUTCH) 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 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL APPELATE 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 


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

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

3 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 paricipates, 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 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 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 witness’ testimony. 

17 (iii) EXCEPTION.—The presiding 

18 judge shall not permit any action under 

19 this subparagraph if that judge determines 

20 the action would constitute a violation of 

21 the due process rights of any party. 

22 (B) NO MEDIA COVERAGE OF JURORS.— 

23 The presiding judge shall not permit the 

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1 casting, or televising of any juror in a trial pro2 ceeding, or of the jury selection process. 

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) GUIDELINES.—The Judicial Conference of 

10 the United States may promulgate guidelines with 

11 respect to the management and administration of 

12 photographing, recording, broadcasting, or televising 

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

14 (5) SUNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHORITY.— 

15 The authority under paragraph (2) shall terminate 

16 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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

18 and fairness, the presiding judge of the court in 

19 which media use is desired has discretion to promul20 gate rules and disciplinary measures for the court21 room use of any form of media or media equipment 

22 and the acquisition or distribution of any of the im23 ages or sounds obtained in the courtroom. The pre24 siding judge shall also have discretion to require 

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1 vidually or on behalf of any entity before being al2 lowed to acquire any images or sounds from the 

3 courtroom. 

Æ 


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