Chief Justice’s Fall Highlights Limited High Court Transparency

The Supreme Court, which Chief Justice John Roberts has called “the most transparent branch in government,” responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by livestreaming remote arguments, which allowed people normally shut out of the court to hear arguments for the first time ever, in real time.

But the pandemic has also left the already-cloistered justices even more out of sight than usual, a fact laid bare when the court acknowledged this week that Roberts was hospitalized last month after a fall—and only after the Washington Post inquired.

The court as an institution is often reluctant to shine more light on how ...