Same-Day Release of Supreme Court Arguments:

I enjoyed listening to the oral arguments in the Solomon Amendment case this week, and the thought occurred to me: Why don’t the Justices permit the same-day release of audio recordings for all of their arguments?

  I can understand why the Justices don’t want oral arguments televised (not to say I’m convinced, but I do understand the concern). But sound-only recordings generally don’t raise the same problems. And for Supreme Court buffs, the audio is just as good; video adds little if any substance, at least as soon as you are familiar enough with the Justices to recognize their voices. Oral arguments have been taped for decades and get released eventually, so why not release the audio on the day of the argument when the public is most interested?