Chief justice wants Supreme Court deliberations public
By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel
Sept. 6, 2011 10:43 a.m.
Madison -- Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson is laying out her plan to make Supreme Court deliberations public.
Responding to a recent physical altercation between two justices, Abrahamson is seeking to raise ebbing public confidence in the court.
In a memo released Tuesday, Abrahamson acknowledged the toll the problems have taken on the court.
"This has been a difficult year — for the country, for the state, and for this court. The bitter divisions in the Legislature, state and federal, have affected public confidence, and we have had our own problems. They certainly have not been hidden," she wrote. "No one of us is blameless. This is a new term, however, and each term is a new beginning."
Right now, administrative conferences on the court are open to the public but deliberations are not. Legal scholars have said it might be difficult to open them as Abrahamson has proposed.
The court will take up the proposals in Abrahamson's memo on Sept. 15. In the memo, she says she wants to start a discussion and doesn't necessarily endorse all the various options laid out:
* The presumption should be that all conferences are open, with all conferences held either in the court's hearing room or in a more private location where the conference would be streamed to the public.
* The court should presume that conferences be open when the court considers which cases it will take.
* Court conferences could be taped and then released later after the cases have been resolved.
* An expert on conflict resolution could work with all of the justices individually.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/129305503.html
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