Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1133 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1133
5	5	To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings.
6	6	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
7	7	MARCH26, 2025
8	8	Mr. G
9	9	RASSLEY(for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. DURBIN, Mr.
10	10	B
11	11	LUMENTHAL, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following
12	12	bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sunshine in the Court-4
19	19	room Act of 2025’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. FEDERAL APPELLATE AND DISTRICT COURTS. 6
21	21	(a) D
22	22	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
23	23	(1) P
24	24	RESIDING JUDGE.—The term ‘‘presiding 8
25	25	judge’’ means the judge presiding over the court 9
26	26	proceeding concerned. In proceedings in which more 10
27	27	than one judge participates, the presiding judge 11
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30	30	•S 1133 IS
31	31	shall be the chief judge or justice so participating. 1
32	32	If the chief judge or justice is not participating, the 2
33	33	presiding judge shall be the most senior active judge 3
34	34	or justice so participating. 4
35	35	(2) A
36	36	PPELLATE COURT OF THE UNITED 5
37	37	STATES.—The term ‘‘appellate court of the United 6
38	38	States’’ means any United States circuit court of ap-7
39	39	peals and the Supreme Court of the United States. 8
40	40	(b) A
41	41	UTHORITY OFPRESIDINGJUDGETOALLOW 9
42	42	M
43	43	EDIACOVERAGE OFCOURTPROCEEDINGS.— 10
44	44	(1) A
45	45	UTHORITY OF APPELLATE COURTS .— 11
46	46	(A) I
47	47	N GENERAL.—Except as provided 12
48	48	under subparagraph (B), the presiding judge of 13
49	49	an appellate court of the United States may, at 14
50	50	the discretion of that judge, permit the 15
51	51	photographing, electronic recording, broad-16
52	52	casting, or televising to the public of any court 17
53	53	proceeding over which that judge presides. 18
54	54	(B) E
55	55	XCEPTION.—The presiding judge 19
56	56	shall not permit any action under subparagraph 20
57	57	(A), if— 21
58	58	(i) in the case of a proceeding involv-22
59	59	ing only the presiding judge, that judge de-23
60	60	termines the action would constitute a vio-24
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63	63	•S 1133 IS
64	64	lation of the due process rights of any 1
65	65	party; or 2
66	66	(ii) in the case of a proceeding involv-3
67	67	ing the participation of more than one 4
68	68	judge, a majority of the judges partici-5
69	69	pating determine that the action would 6
70	70	constitute a violation of the due process 7
71	71	rights of any party. 8
72	72	(2) A
73	73	UTHORITY OF DISTRICT COURTS .— 9
74	74	(A) I
75	75	N GENERAL.— 10
76	76	(i) A
77	77	UTHORITY.—Notwithstanding 11
78	78	any other provision of law, except as pro-12
79	79	vided under clause (iii), the presiding judge 13
80	80	of a district court of the United States 14
81	81	may, at the discretion of that judge, per-15
82	82	mit the photographing, electronic record-16
83	83	ing, broadcasting, or televising to the pub-17
84	84	lic of any court proceeding over which that 18
85	85	judge presides. 19
86	86	(ii) O
87	87	BSCURING OF WITNESSES .—Ex-20
88	88	cept as provided under clause (iii)— 21
89	89	(I) upon the request of any wit-22
90	90	ness (other than a party) in a trial 23
91	91	proceeding, the court shall order the 24
92	92	face and voice of the witness to be 25
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95	95	•S 1133 IS
96	96	disguised or otherwise obscured in 1
97	97	such manner as to render the witness 2
98	98	unrecognizable to the broadcast audi-3
99	99	ence of the trial proceeding; and 4
100	100	(II) the presiding judge in a trial 5
101	101	proceeding shall inform each witness 6
102	102	who is not a party that the witness 7
103	103	has the right to request the image and 8
104	104	voice of that witness to be obscured 9
105	105	during the testimony of the witness. 10
106	106	(iii) E
107	107	XCEPTION.—The presiding 11
108	108	judge shall not permit any action under 12
109	109	this subparagraph— 13
110	110	(I) if that judge determines the 14
111	111	action would constitute a violation of 15
112	112	the due process rights of any party; 16
113	113	and 17
114	114	(II) until the Judicial Conference 18
115	115	of the United States promulgates 19
116	116	mandatory guidelines under para-20
117	117	graph (5). 21
118	118	(B) N
119	119	O MEDIA COVERAGE OF JURORS .— 22
120	120	The presiding judge shall not permit the 23
121	121	photographing, electronic recording, broad-24
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124	124	•S 1133 IS
125	125	casting, or televising of any juror in a trial pro-1
126	126	ceeding, or of the jury selection process. 2
127	127	(C) D
128	128	ISCRETION OF THE JUDGE .—The 3
129	129	presiding judge shall have the discretion to ob-4
130	130	scure the face and voice of an individual, if 5
131	131	good cause is shown that the photographing, 6
132	132	electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising 7
133	133	of the individual would threaten— 8
134	134	(i) the safety of the individual; 9
135	135	(ii) the security of the court; 10
136	136	(iii) the integrity of future or ongoing 11
137	137	law enforcement operations; or 12
138	138	(iv) the interest of justice. 13
139	139	(D) S
140	140	UNSET OF DISTRICT COURT AUTHOR -14
141	141	ITY.—The authority under this paragraph shall 15
142	142	terminate 3 years after the date of the enact-16
143	143	ment of this Act. 17
144	144	(3) I
145	145	NTERLOCUTORY APPEALS BARRED .—The 18
146	146	decision of the presiding judge under this subsection 19
147	147	of whether or not to permit, deny, or terminate the 20
148	148	photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or 21
149	149	televising of a court proceeding may not be chal-22
150	150	lenged through an interlocutory appeal. 23
151	151	(4) A
152	152	DVISORY GUIDELINES.—The Judicial Con-24
153	153	ference of the United States may promulgate advi-25
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156	156	•S 1133 IS
157	157	sory guidelines to which a presiding judge, at the 1
158	158	discretion of that judge, may refer in making deci-2
159	159	sions with respect to the management and adminis-3
160	160	tration of photographing, recording, broadcasting, or 4
161	161	televising described under paragraphs (1) and (2). 5
162	162	(5) M
163	163	ANDATORY GUIDELINES .—Not later than 6
164	164	6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 7
165	165	the Judicial Conference of the United States shall 8
166	166	promulgate mandatory guidelines that a presiding 9
167	167	judge is required to follow for obscuring of certain 10
168	168	vulnerable witnesses, including crime victims, minor 11
169	169	victims, families of victims, cooperating witnesses, 12
170	170	undercover law enforcement officers or agents, wit-13
171	171	nesses subject to section 3521 of title 18, United 14
172	172	States Code, relating to witness relocation and pro-15
173	173	tection, or minors under the age of 18 years. The 16
174	174	guidelines shall include procedures for determining, 17
175	175	at the earliest practicable time in any investigation 18
176	176	or case, which witnesses should be considered vulner-19
177	177	able under this section. 20
178	178	(6) P
179	179	ROCEDURES.—In the interests of justice 21
180	180	and fairness, the presiding judge of the court in 22
181	181	which media use is desired has discretion to promul-23
182	182	gate rules and disciplinary measures for the court-24
183	183	room use of any form of media or media equipment 25
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186	186	•S 1133 IS
187	187	and the acquisition or distribution of any of the im-1
188	188	ages or sounds obtained in the courtroom. The pre-2
189	189	siding judge shall also have discretion to require 3
190	190	written acknowledgment of the rules by anyone indi-4
191	191	vidually or on behalf of any entity before being al-5
192	192	lowed to acquire any images or sounds from the 6
193	193	courtroom. 7
194	194	(7) N
195	195	O BROADCAST OF CONFERENCES BE -8
196	196	TWEEN ATTORNEYS AND CLIENTS .—There shall be 9
197	197	no audio pickup or broadcast of conferences which 10
198	198	occur in a court proceeding between attorneys and 11
199	199	their clients, between co-counsel of a client, between 12
200	200	adverse counsel, or between counsel and the pre-13
201	201	siding judge, if the conferences are not part of the 14
202	202	official record of the proceedings. 15
203	203	(8) E
204	204	XPENSES.—A court may require that any 16
205	205	accommodations to effectuate this Act be made with-17
206	206	out public expense. 18
207	207	(9) I
208	208	NHERENT AUTHORITY .—Nothing in this 19
209	209	Act shall limit the inherent authority of a court to 20
210	210	protect witnesses or clear the courtroom to preserve 21
211	211	the decorum and integrity of the legal process or 22
212	212	protect the safety of an individual. 23
213	213	Æ
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