Courtroom cameras

The presumed appointment of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court will put a supporter of televised proceedings on the bench.

The nominee said that "when there have been options for me to participate with cameras in the courtroom, I have." Her voice supprotive of cameras will replace retiring Justice David H. Souter, who once said that "the day you see a camera come into my courtroom, it's going to roll over my dead body."

Legislation has been proposed to require cameras in the Supreme Court, but that would force them on justices uneasy with their presence.

The Supreme Court is the only one of the three branches of government without some type of regular televised coverage, although it is favored by three out of five Americans.

Televised proceedings would raise public awareness of a court that has a profound impact on American life.