California has a court reporter crisis. A million hearings a year are taking place without a record. No transcript, no court reporter and the law bans recording and cameras. We can record everything in public, except public courtrooms. Certified and licensed court reporters have a monopoly on creating written records of court hearings, transcripts, and judges rarely allow cameras in courtrooms. Litigants recorded on Zoom can't even record back.

A lawsuit was filed nearly three years ago claiming the recording ban was unconstitutional. The California Supreme Court has stalled and delayed, protecting the court reporter monopoly more than fairness and litigants forced into courtrooms for community property and child custody disputes.

Today the court will hear oral argument in the case. We expect protracted decisional delays and few solutions, so don't expect a fix to be quick.

At 9 a.m., the oral argument about recording hearings will be recorded and livestreamed — see the link in our article today in the Vanguard. Hopefully the irony and stupidity of that fact is not lost on anyone but the judges in charge of California's courts, lawyers and court reporters!

https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxdaUh7Qpvqrns4wZXlkuGc2dlgQ6WElPY

The law CAN'T ban recording. The press has the SAME access as the public… if the public has access the public/free press can record… PERIOD. It is a federal crime, even for judges, to deprive a right under color of any law, statute, regulation, or custom. Domestic enemies violating rights under color of law should be treated as enemy combatants on US soil.