According to the media coalition, the Constitution “requires” the court to allow television coverage of the criminal trial of Donald Trump.

A coalition of media organizations including CNN, C-SPAN and The New York Times say the Constitution requires televised access to Donald Trump’s upcoming criminal trial on federal conspiracy charges.

In response to special counsel Jack Smith’s opposition to televised proceedings, coalition lawyers wrote in a filing today that “it is well recognized that constitutional speech includes the making of audiovisual recordings,” citing past precedent.

Smith argued that longstanding Federal Court Rule 53 clearly prohibits “taking photographs in the courtroom during a trial or broadcasting court proceedings from the courtroom.”

The media coalition’s legal team wrote: “Of all the trials in American history, this one demands the public confidence that only a televised trial can foster.” Because the Constitution permits — and even requires — such access here, federal law cannot prohibit it. “

Read the media coalition’s filing.

The coalition cited the court’s decision to allow audiovisual access to federal court proceedings during the Corona crisis as an example of when such access is deemed necessary.

“This case is about the national electorate, meaningful public access to the decisions that lie ahead.”
A criminal trial cannot be conducted by personal attendance alone,” the coalition’s lawyers wrote, arguing that Rule 53 “must yield” to a constitutional challenge in this case.

The coalition’s lawyers wrote: “Because Trump is not only a former president but also a current candidate fighting to return to the White House, the public’s ability to monitor his trial is a fundamental issue of democratic self-government.” Furthermore, in support of audiovisual access, Trump characterized this action as having “all the unfortunate hallmarks of a trial in an authoritarian regime, without legitimacy or due process.” This rhetoric and its questioning of the legitimacy of this process only underscores the urgent need for the public to see this process first hand.”

Trump’s legal team argued for access to the camera, but Smith objected. In a recently released document, he wrote that Trump’s support for televised hearings was a “clear attempt to demand special treatment, try his case in the courtroom of public opinion and turn his trial into a media event .”

NBCUniversal is making a slightly different legal argument because it wants video access to the proceedings. Her legal team argued that the federal rule prohibits “a broadcast exclusively from the courtroom.” They noted that it does not prohibit media companies from using a pool camera, where the footage is transmitted to studios and then broadcast “outside the courtroom.” The rule also does not prevent Judge Tanya Chutkan from using her own equipment to record the proceedings, which networks can then use, they wrote.

The media coalition’s filing also supports NBCU’s argument, but said it “addresses the constitutional question that arises if the Court instead finds that Penal Rule 53 bars access to audiovisual media in this case.”

Trump’s trial begins on March 4. Reporters covering the pretrial hearing are prohibited from using electronic devices in the DC federal courtroom. However, they were allowed to do so in two overflow rooms with access to a video feed. The public will also be allocated a certain number of seats in the courtroom, as well as an additional courtroom with video access.

Given the federal courts’ longstanding reluctance to grant camera access, it remains unlikely that Chutkan will allow television access or that the Judicial Conference will change the old rules or make an exception.