Prompt, free access to argument transcripts
on Sep 14, 2006 at 12:06 pm
The Supreme Court will begin making available, without charge, the transcripts of oral arguments, on the same day that an argument has been held, the Court announced Thursday. This is one of the most important innovations, in terms of public access, by the new Chief Justice, John G. Roberts, Jr. For years, the idea of same-day release of transcripts of every argument has been rejected despite repeated requests from the media and other public entities.
The new service will begin with the first arguments of the new Term. The Term opens on Monday, Oct. 2, but the first arguments are being held on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
Previously, prompt access to argument transcripts could be arranged, for a significant fee, from the reporting service that has long had the contract for supplying the transcripts, Alderson Reporting Service. From time to time, in major cases, the Court also has released the audiotapes of an argument session, and those have been widely broadcast. Entities wishing to have a transcript of those special cases without paying the reporting service made their own transcriptions from the audio recordings.
The free same-day transcripts will now appear on the Court’s web site, www.supremecourt.gov. Here is a link to the Court’s web site. In recent years, the Court has been displaying the transcripts on its web site, but ordinarily not until about two weeks later.
In order to provide the new service, Alderson will use a court reporter physically present in the Courtroom, employing high-speed technology to transcribe the arguments more quickly, the Court said. Previously, transcripts were made away from the Court from the audiotapes.
On the Court’s website, the transcripts will be found by clicking on “Oral Arguments” on the home page, then clicking on “Argument Transcripts.” They will be listed by case name and date of argument. Transcripts from prior Terms, back to and including the 2000 Term, are on the web site.
Here is the text of Thursday’s announcement by Kathleen L. Arberg, the Court’s public information officer.
