Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2015
Latest action · Mar 18, 2015 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S1631; text of measure as introduced: CR S1631-1632)
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMar 18, 2015
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2015
Authorizes the presiding judge of a U.S. appellate court or U.S. district court to permit the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising to the public of court proceedings over which that judge presides, except when such action would constitute a violation of the due process rights of any party.
Directs: (1) a district court, upon the request of any witness in a trial proceeding other than a party, to order the face and voice of the witness to be disguised or otherwise obscured to render the witness unrecognizable to the broadcast audience of the trial proceeding; and (2) the presiding judge in a trial proceeding to inform each witness who is not a party of the right to make such request. Allows a presiding judge to obscure the face and voice of an individual if good cause is shown that photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising such features would threaten the individual's safety, the court's security, the integrity of future or ongoing law enforcement operations, or the interest of justice.
Prohibits a presiding judge from permitting the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising of any juror in a trial proceeding, or of the jury selection process.
Terminates a district court's authority under this Act three years after enactment of this Act.
Requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to promulgate mandatory guidelines which a presiding judge must follow for obscuring certain vulnerable witnesses.
Prohibits any audio pickup or broadcast of conferences which occur in a court proceeding between attorneys and their clients, co-counsel of a client, adverse counsel, or counsel and the presiding judge, if the conferences are not part of the official record of the proceedings.
Cosponsors 9
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 18, 2015 to May 6, 2015, with 7 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-NY | Charles E. Schumer | Original | Mar 18, 2015 |
| D-MA | Edward J. Markey | Original | Mar 18, 2015 |
| R-TX | John Cornyn | Original | Mar 18, 2015 |
| R-SC | Lindsey Graham | Original | Mar 18, 2015 |
| D-VT | Patrick J. Leahy | Original | Mar 18, 2015 |
| D-CT | Richard Blumenthal | Original | Mar 18, 2015 |
| D-IL | Richard J. Durbin | Original | Mar 18, 2015 |
| D-MN | Amy Klobuchar | Mar 19, 2015 | |
| D-MN | Al Franken | May 6, 2015 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Mar 18, 2015Introduced in Senate
- Mar 18, 2015Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S1631; text of measure as introduced: CR S1631-1632)
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 917 | Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2015 | Related bill | Mar 16, 2015 |
| HR 3723 | Eyes on the Courts Act of 2015 | Related bill | Nov 3, 2015 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Law.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Mar 18, 2015Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.