Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 770 To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 13, 2019 Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sunshine in the Court- 4 room Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL APPELLATE AND DISTRICT COURTS. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (1) PRESIDING JUDGE.—The term ‘‘presiding 8 judge’’ means the judge presiding over the court 9 proceeding concerned. In proceedings in which more 10 than one judge participates, the presiding judge 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 770 IS shall be the senior active judge so participating or, 1 in the case of a circuit court of appeals, the senior 2 active circuit judge so participating, except that— 3 (A) in en banc sittings of any United 4 States circuit court of appeals, the presiding 5 judge shall be the chief judge of the circuit 6 whenever the chief judge participates; and 7 (B) in en banc sittings of the Supreme 8 Court of the United States, the presiding judge 9 shall be the Chief Justice whenever the Chief 10 Justice participates. 11 (2) APPELLATE COURT OF THE UNITED 12 STATES.—The term ‘‘appellate court of the United 13 States’’ means any United States circuit court of ap- 14 peals and the Supreme Court of the United States. 15 (b) AUTHORITY OF PRESIDING JUDGE TO ALLOW 16 MEDIA COVERAGE OF COURT PROCEEDINGS.— 17 (1) AUTHORITY OF APPELLATE COURTS.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 19 under subparagraph (B), the presiding judge of 20 an appellate court of the United States may, at 21 the discretion of that judge, permit the 22 photographing, electronic recording, broad- 23 casting, or televising to the public of any court 24 proceeding over which that judge presides. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 770 IS (B) EXCEPTION.—The presiding judge 1 shall not permit any action under subparagraph 2 (A), if— 3 (i) in the case of a proceeding involv- 4 ing only the presiding judge, that judge de- 5 termines the action would constitute a vio- 6 lation of the due process rights of any 7 party; or 8 (ii) in the case of a proceeding involv- 9 ing the participation of more than one 10 judge, a majority of the judges partici- 11 pating determine that the action would 12 constitute a violation of the due process 13 rights of any party. 14 (2) AUTHORITY OF DISTRICT COURTS.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.— 16 (i) AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding 17 any other provision of law, except as pro- 18 vided under clause (iii), the presiding judge 19 of a district court of the United States 20 may, at the discretion of that judge, per- 21 mit the photographing, electronic record- 22 ing, broadcasting, or televising to the pub- 23 lic of any court proceeding over which that 24 judge presides. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 770 IS (ii) OBSCURING OF WITNESSES.—Ex- 1 cept as provided under clause (iii)— 2 (I) upon the request of any wit- 3 ness (other than a party) in a trial 4 proceeding, the court shall order the 5 face and voice of the witness to be 6 disguised or otherwise obscured in 7 such manner as to render the witness 8 unrecognizable to the broadcast audi- 9 ence of the trial proceeding; and 10 (II) the presiding judge in a trial 11 proceeding shall inform each witness 12 who is not a party that the witness 13 has the right to request the image and 14 voice of that witness to be obscured 15 during the testimony of the witness. 16 (iii) EXCEPTION.—The presiding 17 judge shall not permit any action under 18 this subparagraph— 19 (I) if that judge determines the 20 action would constitute a violation of 21 the due process rights of any party; 22 and 23 (II) until the Judicial Conference 24 of the United States promulgates 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 770 IS mandatory guidelines under para- 1 graph (5). 2 (B) NO MEDIA COVERAGE OF JURORS.— 3 The presiding judge shall not permit the 4 photographing, electronic recording, broad- 5 casting, or televising of any juror in a trial pro- 6 ceeding, or of the jury selection process. 7 (C) DISCRETION OF THE JUDGE.—The 8 presiding judge shall have the discretion to ob- 9 scure the face and voice of an individual, if 10 good cause is shown that the photographing, 11 electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising 12 of the individual would threaten— 13 (i) the safety of the individual; 14 (ii) the security of the court; 15 (iii) the integrity of future or ongoing 16 law enforcement operations; or 17 (iv) the interest of justice. 18 (D) SUNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHOR- 19 ITY.—The authority under this paragraph shall 20 terminate 3 years after the date of the enact- 21 ment of this Act. 22 (3) INTERLOCUTORY APPEALS BARRED.—The 23 decision of the presiding judge under this subsection 24 of whether or not to permit, deny, or terminate the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 770 IS photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or 1 televising of a court proceeding may not be chal- 2 lenged through an interlocutory appeal. 3 (4) ADVISORY GUIDELINES.—The Judicial Con- 4 ference of the United States may promulgate advi- 5 sory guidelines to which a presiding judge, at the 6 discretion of that judge, may refer in making deci- 7 sions with respect to the management and adminis- 8 tration of photographing, recording, broadcasting, or 9 televising described under paragraphs (1) and (2). 10 (5) MANDATORY GUIDELINES.—Not later than 11 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 12 the Judicial Conference of the United States shall 13 promulgate mandatory guidelines that a presiding 14 judge is required to follow for obscuring of certain 15 vulnerable witnesses, including crime victims, minor 16 victims, families of victims, cooperating witnesses, 17 undercover law enforcement officers or agents, wit- 18 nesses subject to section 3521 of title 18, United 19 States Code, relating to witness relocation and pro- 20 tection, or minors under the age of 18 years. The 21 guidelines shall include procedures for determining, 22 at the earliest practicable time in any investigation 23 or case, which witnesses should be considered vulner- 24 able under this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 770 IS (6) PROCEDURES.—In the interests of justice 1 and fairness, the presiding judge of the court in 2 which media use is desired has discretion to promul- 3 gate rules and disciplinary measures for the court- 4 room use of any form of media or media equipment 5 and the acquisition or distribution of any of the im- 6 ages or sounds obtained in the courtroom. The pre- 7 siding judge shall also have discretion to require 8 written acknowledgment of the rules by anyone indi- 9 vidually or on behalf of any entity before being al- 10 lowed to acquire any images or sounds from the 11 courtroom. 12 (7) NO BROADCAST OF CONFERENCES BE- 13 TWEEN ATTORNEYS AND CLIENTS.—There shall be 14 no audio pickup or broadcast of conferences which 15 occur in a court proceeding between attorneys and 16 their clients, between co-counsel of a client, between 17 adverse counsel, or between counsel and the pre- 18 siding judge, if the conferences are not part of the 19 official record of the proceedings. 20 (8) EXPENSES.—A court may require that any 21 accommodations to effectuate this Act be made with- 22 out public expense. 23 (9) INHERENT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 24 Act shall limit the inherent authority of a court to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 770 IS protect witnesses or clear the courtroom to preserve 1 the decorum and integrity of the legal process or 2 protect the safety of an individual. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S770.IS S770 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS