High-profile cases playing out in federal court are prosecuted on behalf of the American public, but the public has been largely barred from watching them. In Boston, reporters have mobbed the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev but can’t take photos or videos inside the courtroom. The same was true of the New York trial and conviction last month of Khaled Al-Fawwaz for conspiracy in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. In both cases, the public had to rely on the drawings of courtroom artists. Some are calling on the courts to reconsider the camera ban.
Q: Have cameras always been banned from federal courts?
