It's time to allow cameras in federal courts, arguably the most powerful branch of government. Media reports about what happens in federal courts are incomplete and merely an interpretation of by reporters. Allowing TV cameras in courts would allow the public to directly see how judicial branch decisions are made.
In a victory for transparency that we should all hopes sticks, an advisory commission that recommends court rules on practices and procedures has started holding meetings open to the public. The open meetings are the result of a federal lawsuit and an order by the judge that said the First Amendment right of access to court proceedings likely requires the meetings to be open.
For 2 1/2 years, Memphis journalist Marc Perrusquia has received perfunctory communications from the city of Memphis that it is still reviewing and considering his records request, each time pushing the date for their response down the road. Perrusquia is asking for audits of a Memphis police program that provides intervention for officers who have exhibited behavior or performance problems. However, the city has stonewalled his request, contacting him 41 times over the 2 1/2 years extending the "time necessary" to complete the request. Now he has filed a lawsuit challenging those delays and in an effort to shake loose the audits.
The mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville has led to an extraordinary legal battle over the public records law and transparency of our criminal justice system. The school, the church that owns the school and the parents of the schoolchildren are seeking to stop the public from seeing evidence collected by police in one of the most horrific crimes in Nashville in recent memory, saying that it would be too painful and inspire more school shootings.
A judge said victim rights in the Tennessee constitution and in statute warranted review as to whether they would block access to the writings of a mass shooter and other records collected by police in their investigation. She granted permission to parents of Covenant School children to intervene in a lawsuit to pursue the claim.
