Hearing Britney Spears's voice as she addressed the court on June 23, 2021, was powerful, insightful, and for me, emotional.
Denying audio access is a manipulative strategy and tactic that (unfortunately) benefits a broken court system, and can shield abusers.
Transparency, traceability, and accountability. Courts should allow us—
we the people—to have remote audio access and the right to record, for a wide range of court hearings.
Hearing Britney tell her story was powerful.
Denying the public remote audio access to a public court hearing like this, on September 29, 2021,
erodes the impact of a victim's plight.
Noted in the
Interim Report: Remote Access to Courts that attorney Christopher Melcher mentioned, the workgroup recommended:
• California courts should expand and maximize remote access on a permanent basis for most proceedings and should not default to pre-pandemic levels of in-person operations.
• The Judicial Council should encourage and support courts in substantially expanding remote access through all available technology and should promote fairness by adopting balanced policies and encouraging consistency in remote access throughout the state to ensure that Californians have equal access to the courts while providing flexibility to meet local needs.
Courts should allow remote public audio access
and recording; this should be a federal law, and can help curb power of attorney abuse, conservatorship abuse, and guardianship abuse.
