Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2025
The Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2025 would allow and regulate media coverage of federal court proceedings in appellate courts (U.S. circuit courts and the Supreme Court) and district courts. Judges would have discretion to permit photographing, recording, broadcasting, or televising proceedings, subject to safeguards. For appellate courts, coverage can be allowed unless the presiding judge (or majority of participating judges) determines it would violate a party’s due process rights. For district courts, coverage is also allowed at the presiding judge’s discretion, but there are specific protections for witnesses (face/voice obscuring upon request), and no juror or jury-selection coverage. The bill would require the Judicial Conference to issue mandatory guidelines within six months on obscuring certain vulnerable witnesses and would permit advisory guidelines as well. It also prohibits broadcasts of attorney-client conferences, gives courts authority to set rules and disciplinary measures for media use, and would allow costs to be covered by the court rather than public funds. The district-court media authority would sunset three years after enactment. The proposal aims to increase transparency in federal proceedings while balancing privacy, safety, and due-process concerns.
Key Points
- 1Media coverage authority
- 2- Appellate courts: Presiding judges may permit photographing, recording, broadcasting, or televising court proceedings, unless doing so would violate due process for any party (or a majority of participating judges in multi-judge panels.
- 3- District courts: Presiding judges may permit media coverage, with rules to obscure witnesses on request and protections against coverage of jurors or jury selection.
- 4Witness protection and guidelines
- 5- Mandatory guidelines within six months: The Judicial Conference must issue mandatory guidelines for obscuring vulnerable witnesses (e.g., crime victims, minors, families of victims, cooperating witnesses, undercover officers, certain witnesses under witness protection laws).
- 6- Early determination of who is vulnerable and how to obscure them in coverage.
- 7No juror coverage
- 8- Photographs, recordings, broadcasts of jurors or jury selection are prohibited.
- 9Discretion and safety
- 10- Judges can obscure faces/voices for safety, security, integrity of investigations, or the interest of justice; presiding judges may establish rules and penalties for media use.
- 11Interlocutory appeals and process
- 12- Decisions by presiding judges on whether to allow or deny media coverage may not be challenged via interlocutory appeal.
- 13Guidelines and rules
- 14- Advisory guidelines may be issued by the Judicial Conference; mandatory guidelines must be followed for certain sensitive witnesses.
- 15- Courts may establish procedures and discipline for media use and require written acknowledgment of rules to obtain courtroom media access.
- 16Access costs and scope
- 17- Courts can require accommodations to be made without public expense (i.e., funded by the court’s budget or private parties) rather than by taxpayers publicly.
- 18Time limits
- 19- District court media coverage authority sunsets three years after enactment; appellate court coverage would not have a specified sunset in the text provided.
- 20Prohibited broadcasts
- 21- No audio pickup or broadcast of attorney-client conferences or other non-recorded communications between attorneys and clients.