Except that this is the age of Trump, and RBG is a celebrity to some as a sort of anti-Trump, so maybe everything RBG does with an ideological bite becomes newsworthy? That's probably the explanation, but it still seems odd to me.
Taking that logic to an extreme end, oral arguments should be closed sessions, no reporters or observers allowed.
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I think taking the logic to an extreme end indicates that they shouldn't read summaries of majority opinions, either -- which I think they shouldn't.
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By summaries, do you mean news reports or the syllabus or both?
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Sorry, I meant the summaries of their majority opinions that the Justices read in open court. Perhaps it made sense pre-Internet, but these days it seems to just mean that they keep everyone waiting online for the opinion while they read a summary to 100 people.
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Oh, well. I’d rather have oral arguments live-streamed, in which case, decisions could be as well. (I imagine you’d dislike that greatly.)
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I have mixed views of livestreaming, but if everyone could watch live, I wouldn't dislike the decision readings, at least beyond concerns about them playing to the public. (But my original concern was just about press coverage, not what the Justices do.)
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Right, and I think press coverage is trying to share our genuine view of why justices read dissents. I think RBG sees it as a lever she can pull once a term or so to make a point. It’s her bell-ringing, and others do so as well (though less often).
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So in effect, the Justices wishing to influence future public debate about that issue becomes the story, making it newsworthy. Interesting. I suppose that's right, with the caveat that I don't think that's a good thing. http://volokh.com/posts/1193284491.shtml …
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I mean, that’s often what dissents aim to do! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m not sure we disagree all that much; I think you just want a law prof press, whereas I think the reality is that people care about why justices like Scalia or Ginsburg are dissenting, so capturing that is valuable.
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