RNC’s Distortion Of Oral Arguments Could Reduce SCOTUS Transparency

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The Repubican National Committee (RNC) released a web ad earlier this week making it appear that U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, the lawyer who argued that President Obama’s health care law should be upheld, gave a worse presentation than he actually did. Bloomberg News reviewed the transcript, and found the RNC altered the audio of the oral arguments to present Verrilli’s argument as significantly more halting.

In light of that, Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog.com makes an excellent point. The RNC’s use and distortion of the audio could actually make the Supreme Court less transparant by delaying such releases in the future for a longer period of time, and perhaps killing any chance that the Court allow cameras during proceedings:

It probably also sets back the effort to get the Court to become more transparent.  As Amy pointed out to me, the Justices now have before them a perfect illustration of the gross distortion that can instantly be made of recordings of their proceedings.  What is to stop the same misleading stunt being pulled with the Justices’ own oral argument questions and comments?  Nothing at all.  The Court made a special exception in releasing the oral argument tape for the health care arguments so promptly, and it probably will hesitate before doing so again.  If there were any chance that the Justices would permit cameras in the Court, I do not see happening now.

 

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