By today (Friday afternoon), the big news is that the 9th District Appeals Court did not strike down the court-ordered stay on President Trump’s executive order banning then entrance of traveller from seven Muslim-majority countries and limiting entrance to the US for most refugees.
But to me, the almost as big story was that people all around the U.S. (heck, around the world!) could listen in on the hearing using a live stream of the audio sent out over YouTube and rebroadcast on many television and radio news outlets.
Interested in the hearing? You can listen in with the above stream.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that more than 136,000 people listened to the YouTube feed at its peak, and that many more people heard it on Facebook, news web sites, and news channels such as CNN and MSNBC.
While this is not really cameras in the courtroom, as there were no cameras, it is an example of how citizens can get access to our courts without having to try to be there in person. Given that most of the televised trials are those of sensational crime, it is excellent to see hearings (and hopefully trials) of national importance being made more available.