Supreme Court Transcripts Fast
SCOTUS has just posted some great news for those of us who watch the Supreme Court closely...
The Supreme Court will begin making available, without charge, the transcripts of oral arguments, on the same day that an argument has been held, the Court announced Thursday. This is one of the most important innovations, in terms of public access, by the new Chief Justice, John G. Roberts, Jr. For years, the idea of same-day release of transcripts of every argument has been rejected despite repeated requests from the media and other public entities.This is great news. Usually, we have to read news accounts written by people who attend the oral arguments. They are often overly simplified and have only one or two quotes from the Justices. Recently, there have been blogs that cover the arguments in more detail. They do a better job, but they can't record everything said. This new service will let all of us closely examine the statements and questions made at argument almost immediately. Hats off to Chief Justice Roberts for making this policy change.
