Does “Redacting” Supreme Court Oral Argument Deter Future Protestors? Kai Newkirk says no.

March 3rd, 2014

Following up from my previous posts, several commented that the best way of discouraging future protests is by censoring out the audio of the protestor.

This doesn’t make sense. The Supreme Court chamber is filled with reporters. The news of this outbreak hit the wires days before the audio was released. In fact, we have the audio on YouTube. Whether or not the audio wound its way onto the Supreme Court’s website, at this point, was immaterial. The cat was out of the bag.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. I asked Kai Newkirk, the protestor himself if censoring the audio would deter him, or his colleagues, from protesting at future sessions. Unequivocally, the answer is no. In fact–and I agree with Kai here–deleting the audio reinforces the Court’s transparency problems.

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