The very sight of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) makes me drowsy so the notion that he is spearheading a drive to bring live television coverage to the public workings of the United States Supreme Court is downright laughable. But yet there he is, calling out the Justices for their media tours, introducing “Sense of the Senate” resolutions, all in the name of trying to shed light on an institution that has successfully sought for over two centuries to avoid it. What’s new about his latest effort is that he finally has some great ammunition to fire at the recalcitrant and slightly haughty Justices. Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia both went on television recently to hawk their books. Can they really claim that the same cameras before which they preened now shouldn’t be allowed to view them working their day jobs? The same goes for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice John Paul Stevens, both of whom appeared on Primetime which, last time I checked, gleefully avoids any talk of the doctrine of laches or the Clean Air Act. Of course, the Supreme Court’s oral arguments ought to be televised. The law, even the technical explanation of it, doesn’t just belong to the Justices. It belongs to all of the rest of us as well. And a clear majority of Americans have declared that they would like to see how the Justices handle their chores from behind the bench. The most recent Justice to leave the Court, David Souter, famously said that television cameras would come into the gorgeous old room over his dead body. Is anyone on the current Court willing to take his place and bar the doors? I hope not.

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