The Supreme Court Ohio Annual Report

Journalist Tony Mauro speaks about the impact
of the appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor
to the U.S. Supreme Court during the October
Forum on the Law event.
decidedly away from the mysterious and
closed practices that characterized the Court
for more than 200 years toward a more open
and accessible approach to the public. He
speculated that the addition of the latest
Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Sonia
Sotomayor, will accelerate the change.
Mauro, who has covered the U.S. Supreme
Court for 30 years, said while some have
predicted that Justice Sotomayor likely will
not affect the court dramatically because she
will follow the general judicial philosophy
of her predecessor, Justice David Souter,
he believes Sotomayor’s different life
experiences will have a major impact.
“There is considerable evidence that
she will go her own way,” he said, noting
her professional experience as a judge, a
federal prosecutor and a private attorney.
“She is Hispanic, and English is not her first
language. She grew up in the Bronx, has
diabetes, and goes to karaoke bars. In other
words, she is a far cry from David Souter,
an almost hermit-like Yankee from New
Hampshire.”
While it remains to be seen how Justice
Sotomayor’s jurisprudence will differ from
Justice Souter’s, Mauro said it is clear that her
approach to the question of openness and
accessibility will be much different.
Mauro noted that Justice Souter once
remarked that cameras would be allowed
in the U.S. Supreme Court “over my dead
body,” and was famous for rejecting almost all
media requests, even once politely rejecting a
request by Mauro for an interview about the
Boston Red Sox.
By contrast, Mauro said Sotomayor granted
a television interview her first week on the
bench in which she told of crying when
she received the phone call from President
Barack Obama asking her to accept his
nomination to the court.
Other changes at the Court are bringing
more openness and accessibility too, Mauro
said.
All the sitting justices recently granted
television interviews to C-SPAN for a
documentary series on the Court; Justices
Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas went
on recent book tours; and Chief Justice John
Roberts allowed for the same-day release of
oral argument transcripts.
17