Letter on Public Availability of Oral Argument Audio Recordings in 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals
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SUMMARY
The Federal Courts Committee (Ira Feinberg, Chair) sent a letter to Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals urging the court to alter its policies and consider making recordings of oral arguments available on the court’s public website as a matter of course and within a reasonable amount of time after each argument. The Second Circuit currently employs a cumbersome process to obtain recordings of oral arguments: payment of a $30 fee per recording and the filing of a written request, via ECF or in person at the Clerk’s Office, as well as posting of the request and its satisfaction on the Court’s docket for the appeal. This practice is inconsistent with those of other circuits—ten of which currently make recordings of nearly all oral arguments publicly available on the courts’ websites, without charge and within a few days after the argument. In light of evolving standards with respect to public access to judicial proceedings, as well as the burdens imposed by the Second Circuit’s current practice on low-income and indigent parties, their counsel and members of the public, the Committee urges the Second Circuit to bring its policies in line with those of most of the other circuits and make recordings of oral arguments routinely and freely available.
