Rick Hasen’s Election Law Blog yesterday reported that this morning’s Kansas Supreme Court argument in a significant election law case would be webcast live, as are all of that court’s arguments. The broadcasting of every argument puts Kansas ahead of California.
In this state, broadcasting Supreme Court arguments is the exception, not the rule. The general rule prohibits broadcasting proceedings in any California court. The California Channel does televise some high-profile cases and some special sessions. To see most arguments, however, you have to show up in person.
A Judicial Council spokesperson tells us that the court does live stream arguments internally to court staff, but it “is still in the process of developing live-streaming capability over the internet.” Whether California can catch up to Kansas “comes down to two issues: funding and technology resources.”
