James Hohmann

James Hohmann: “A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers — led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking Republican member Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) — introduced legislation last week that would require the Supreme Court to start televising its proceedings. As they filed their bill, freshman Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) read aloud to reporters from a Dr. Seuss book — a publicity stunt that also felt like a foreboding omen. It’s not that justices and attorneys would be reduced to antics like Marshall’s if cameras arrived. But they would inevitably act differently, in ways that could prove detrimental to the pursuit of justice.”