U.S. Supreme Court justices still talk about television cameras as if they were deeply mysterious, brain-draining devices not to be approached with anything shorter than a 40-foot pole. But in Canada’s Supreme Court, where proceedings have been broadcast for more than 20 years, cameras are just part of the scenery, barely worth a mention.
That was the message of a telling discussion last week at the judicial conference of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado Springs involving Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Canadian Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, former 10th Circuit Chief Judge Robert Henry and NPR’s Nina Totenberg. Media coverage of the conference understandably focused mainly on Ginsburg’s earlier appearance, in which she poignantly gave a humorous speech her husband Martin had prepared for the gathering before he died June 27.
