SCOTUS Arguments Can Become “Must-See Television”

CaptureThe United States Supreme Court prohibits cameras during its oral arguments, although each argument is audio-recorded. But, as Last Week Tonight host John Oliver points out, audio recording makes television coverage of those arguments “basically unwatchable” because television must present its coverage of the arguments by using artist renderings of the proceedings with audio clips.

Yet, as Oliver also points out, what happens at the United States Supreme Court is important and the public should pay attention. Oliver has a solution: the real dogs, fake paws Supreme Court. (Warning: some language is Not Safe For Work (NSFW).)

Oliver and his staff recreated part of the argument from the oral argument in Holt v. Hobbs, and the result is, in a word, stellar. As Oliver quips, “Those dry constitutional arguments are now must-see television.” Oliver invited those in the media to cover other SCOTUS arguments and, delightfully, you can watch an excerpt from American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. here, and you can get the entire oral argument from Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. here.

 

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