Pennsylvania will have a another place in legal history after this week.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the legal suit Trump v. Pennsylvania. It pits the president’s administration and the Little Sisters of the Poor against the legal minds in the office of state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a complicated morass of issues involving religious freedom, abortion, health care, politics, economic equity and women’s rights.
But as important and precedent-setting as the case may be, regardless of which way the court eventually falls, the mechanics of this argument are just as groundbreaking.
The court heard the arguments remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic and its social distancing requirements. Moreover, the court allowed audio of the arguments to be livestreamed for the first time.
Maybe that doesn’t seem like a big deal. People are doing everything remotely. Kindergarten classes. Piano lessons. College dissertation defenses. Happy hours. Sunday services.
So why not court? Well, there’s no reason why not. In every other court in the land, remote appearances are nothing new. Many jails and prisons outfit remote courtrooms to cut down on the logistics and liability of transporting inmates. It can level playing fields of expenses. It can save time and increase efficiency.
The highest court in the land, however, is steeped in tradition and culture. Using technology in those venerable chambers has been treated like playing video games in church.
But cases like Trump v. Pennsylvania show remote arguing allows the court to function under even the most trying circumstances.
Because the court allowed this deviation from the settled process, a case with enormous consequences was not left to languish. It also allowed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to participate from her room at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was recovering from a gall bladder infection.
Maybe this could be the precedent that opens up other options for the court, which has traditionally allowed transcripts of its proceedings and audio files but not video recordings.
The Supreme Court is the real people’s court — the greatest arena of argument and debate on legal topics that have the potential to touch on everyone’s lives. It shouldn’t be treated like a VIP area with a velvet rope.
The remote arguments improve its accessibility, and that’s a tradition that should continue after the pandemic is over.
