Transparency? Not today kids.

Another decent comment on the Volokh blog:

Visitor Again says:
I was one of what must be thousands on thousands of interested members of the public who were eager to watch the trial over the Internet, but who were hugely disappointed when the Supreme Court stepped in to block this step towards tranparency in government by the least understood governmental branch, the judiciary.

The majority opinion’s discussion of irreparable harm is hilarious. It shows the lengths these five right-wing justices will go to block the opportunity for the public to become informed about one of the vital issues of our time and about how the federal judicial branch operates. Rarely, if ever, has any court accepted claims of intimidation so unsubstantiated, so conjectural. To issue extraordinary relief on this flimsy basis is, well ... extraordinary.

Moreover, to reach this result, the majority had to invent a new role for the Supreme Court, micromanagement of district court administration. Apparently the right wing on the Court fears transparency in government, it fears an educated and informed public.*

The rightist Supreme Court majority won’t be able to stop the trial, which will expose how empty the claims of the Proposition 8 proponents are and put it on record. Even if the plaintiffs eventually lose this case, quite possibly at the Supreme Court level, the public discussion it will engender–albeit limited by this Court decision precluding television coverage–will help the struggle for recognition of the same-sex right to marry. It’s only a matter of time.

* Brrrraaawk brawwwk brawwwwwk brawk brawk...