Every day, calls grow louder among some quarters for the United States Supreme Court to televise its oral arguments. But what do people think about cameras in the courtroom? We performed an experiment to determine whether watching oral argument influences people’s beliefs of actually placing cameras in the Court. After watching oral argument, many respondents became more supportive of cameras. But, at the same time, many also became less supportive of the idea that there is a benefit to observing the justices at work. These results call for caution and further research on the effects of cameras before the Court adopts them.
Black et al. (2026) studied this question.