Federal Appeals Courts and New Media

Panelists talked about the impact of federal courts of appeals and how the new media may be changing their anonymity and their public face.

Because the Supreme Court hears so few cases, the federal courts of appeals are the courts of last resort in most federal cases and regularly decide hot button issues and issues of first impression. But media coverage of those courts has been so sparse that the courts of appeals have been called the ‘anonymous courts.’ That anonymity had many sources, including the localized structure of the traditional media, the distance between the courts of appeals and the towns and cities in which many cases are tried, and the preference of some judges for anonymity. All of those barriers have recently begun to give way - the courts have become receptive to televising oral arguments, the Internet has surmounted geographical obstacles, and the new media includes news outlets with an interest in legal developments across the country. close