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9th Circuit to livestream all arguments

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will begin streaming audio of all of its oral arguments beginning Monday, the court announced on Thursday.

The move is a step forward for a court already progressive on the issue of transparency: The 9th Circuit already posts audio recordings of all its oral arguments and video of some cases, as well. Last month, they began streaming video online of cases heard en banc — those heard by the chief judge and 10 of the circuit's judges — becoming the first federal appellate court to do so.

The court hears appeals from western states and jurisdictions in the Pacific and meets regularly in courthouses in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii.

While the 9th Circuit continues to try to embrace technology to open the court to more audiences, other courts and the Supreme Court have been more resistant, especially to televising proceedings. Many of the justices have publicly spoken against the idea of cameras in the courtroom.

However, the federal courts have allowed various experiments with camera coverage. One is ongoing at the moment, involving 14 courts videotaping select civil cases and releasing the videos on the Web. Since 1996, federal appeals courts have been permitted to allow TV coverage of their own proceedings.