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Court OrdersSlate readers weigh in on how to fix Supreme Court reporting.

By Dahlia Lithwick
Posted Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 6:59 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

Another expert Supreme Court watcher, David Garrow, writes from Cambridge University, concurring that "increased tolerance for 'a little point of view' in direct coverage of SCOTUS is likely to do significant damage to any 'MSM' institutions that allow it." There is also some genuine concern from some of you about mixing opinion and reporting—specifically at the high court—and the damage it may do to our reverence for the law. Reader William Chapman puts it this way: "I honestly don't know whether greater coverage of the personal side of Justices would increase or decrease the respect given to the Court, but I tend to assume it would decrease it—the more I learn about politicians, the less I tend to respect them." Another reader, who asked to remain anonymous, puts it this way:

As interested as I am in what book is on Justice Scalia's nightstand or how long ago—exactly—Justice Ginsburg's ACLU membership lapsed, I can't think of a worse way for a Court reporter to spend his or her time. Not because it's not news, wouldn't make for interesting reading, or might not win somebody a Pulitzer. Rather, because that kind of reporting politicizes the Court in a way few carefully worded opinions ever could. Yes, the justices are undoubtedly political creatures, but the more we think we know about their political lives, the less likely we are to respect their rule as law.

Not so fast, writes Kevin Wright. Sure such opinion-based journalism

may seem to make the court political, but it seems to me that the Justices, especially Scalia, Thomas, and to some extent Chief Justice Roberts, are getting away with a constant call for their pet theories ... while the press ignores the numerous cases in which their opinions completely ignore these theories.

Mark Obbie, who actually teaches about just this sort of thing at the Newhouse School, blogged a river of great ideas for improving court coverage, including a biggie I forgot to mention last week: "Go to where the cases percolate up from, reporting on the real people and places at issue in the briefs." One of the things Nina Totenberg, Jess Bravin, Warren Richey, Bob Barnes, and Mark Sherman (among others) do that's invaluable is hiking out to Kenosha to interview the old lady whose cat fell down the well. The old lady is invariably the one person who gets lost at oral argument and even more so in the written opinions.

Several readers call for more reporting about the atmospherics at court during oral argument. Harvard Law School's Mark Tushnet, whose book, I Dissent, is forthcoming, includes among his great suggestions "giving readers a take on the tone of argument without overpredicting outcomes from that tone." Reader Andrew Grossman similarly asks for SCOTUS reporters to offer "a bit more 'Monday morning quarterback' to the process":

Too often I find that reports on oral arguments consist of rote recitation of the questions posed by the justices, followed by the attorney's response, with nothing more added until there is a broad analysis at the end. I'd like to see, especially for the more poignant questions in the argument, an analysis of either the Justice's question (Was it fair? If not, in what way was it unfair?) or an analysis of the attorney's response (was there a better way to answer that question? etc.)

Jose Cordero wants to see cameras at the high court. Reflecting on Justice Scalia's recent suggestion that only lawyers can understand what the Supreme Court actually does, Cordero writes:

If we want to worry our "pretty little heads" over tax code or ponder arguments regarding whether the Constitution is a living document or whether soft money for campaigns is legal, it should be up to us, not him. He may work in an ivory tower, but we built it and we ought to be able to peek inside the windows should we so please.

Reader Jeff Morgan also insists that the court open itself up to public scrutiny:

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Dahlia Lithwick is a Slate senior editor.
Photograph of the Supreme Court by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
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