Ginsburg says TV makes for long confirmation hearings
If it seems like Supreme Court confirmation hearings drag on for longer they they should, there is a reason, according to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: the presence of television cameras.
Because the process Senators have for vetting and approving high court nominees is televised, they can’t fight the temptation to play to the cameras, she said.
“The people on the Senate Judiciary Committee have all that free time” to make their case on television, Ginsburg told the audience gathered at the 10th Circuit Judicial Conference Friday in Colorado Springs, according to the AP.
But Ginsburg stopped short of saying how she felt about allowing cameras in the Supreme Court. Instead, she said, her stance would be guided largely by how comfortable her fellow justices are with the idea.
“When you’re sitting on a collegial bench, if there is any of you who would be extremely discomforted … you would defer to that colleague,” she said.
Ginsburg’s audience included Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was at the conference to give a private address to judges the next day.
Ginsburg’s late husband Martin Ginsburg had been scheduled to address the conference. The justice delivered remarks her husband prepared before he died of cancer in June.
