A U.S. judicial panel tasked with re-examining whether to keep in place the ban against TV or audio broadcasts of federal criminal proceedings has recommended the judiciary leave it in place, even if Republican former President Donald Trump ever faces trial. Members of a subcommittee that the U.S. Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules set up last year to reassess the ban believe "cameras would have a negative effect on witnesses and victims in criminal cases," according to a summary of its deliberations made public on Friday, Reuters reports. The subcommittee was set up in October 2023 after media organizations and Democratic lawmakers argued the judiciary should relax the ban that dates back to 1946 to allow for networks to broadcast proceedings in Trump's two federal criminal cases. Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House in the Nov. 5 presidential election, has previously supported allowing the broadcasting of his yet-to-be-scheduled trial in Washington, D.C., on federal charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Special Counsel Jack Smith is meanwhile appealing the dismissal of federal charges in Florida that Trump mishandled classified documents. Anticipating a potentially historic trial that few in America could see in person, TV networks ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and C-SPAN argued the judiciary should scrap the ban or at least create an “extraordinary case” exception. A report of the subcommittee's deliberations contained in the agenda book for the criminal rules' committee's upcoming Nov. 6-7 meeting in New York said it examined how most states today permit some form of broadcasting in court proceedings. But the subcommittee's members pointed to a lack of empirical research into what effect allowing cameras into courtrooms has had on criminal proceedings. One subcommittee member cited his experience prosecuting cases involving sexual abuse or murders in which witnesses and victims were "terrified," saying they would "certainly not want to testify if the case would be broadcast," the report said.
תגובות