Supreme Court Turns Down Seventh Request This Term for a Quick Audio Release
This term the U.S. Supreme Court considered seven requests from broadcasters to quickly release audiotapes of oral arguments, and it denied all of them.
Ruling on the most recent request, the Supreme Court refused to release same-day audio of oral arguments in a law school case to be argued on Monday, according to the Associated Press and SCOTUSblog. The stories rely on statistics compiled by C-SPAN.
It was the first time in four years that the Supreme Court will go an entire term without allowing quickly released audiotapes, AP says. The first time the court provided same-day audio was in Bush v. Gore.
AP notes a comment by Chief Justice John G. Roberts in September at an event at the University of Michigan law school. A questioner asked why audio is not made available more often.
”At the end of the day, it’s not our job to educate,” Roberts said. ”It’s our job to decide cases.”
The case to be argued Monday, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, pits a law school’s right to enforce its nondiscrimination policy against the right of a Christian legal group to exclude gays and nonbelievers.
The Christian Legal Society claims its First Amendment rights of free association were violated when the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law refused to recognize the group. The case has drawn 38 amicus briefs, including one from the ABA, the National Law Journal reports.
