All 13 federal appeals courts now are livestreaming oral arguments compared to four prior to the pandemic, the latest sign of how Covid-19 has made U.S. courts more transparent.
The embrace of live audio or video by federal and state courts that’s attracting audiences in cases from Washington to Hawaii has advocates hopeful that increased public access will remain even after the pandemic ends.
“People’s sense of what actually happens in a court setting is fairly elementary,” said Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute. “I think it’s good for the public to see what courts do,” Fogel ...