The Third Circuit today entered an order amending the court’s internal operating procedures to allow for public posting of video recordings of oral arguments. (Chief Judge Smith telegraphed this move in November.) The amended IOP reads:

2.6 Posting of oral argument on the court’s website.
2.6.1 Audio recordings of all arguments will be posted on the court’s internet website unless the panel directs otherwise.
2.6.2 Counsel will be provided an opportunity, either before or after argument, to recommend or to object to the posting of video recordings of oral argument. If the panel is inclined to post a video recording, the clerk will inform counsel and direct counsel to submit any objections by close of business the next day.
2.6.3 While the Clerk will convey to the panel any suggestion from counsel or the public that video recordings be posted for public viewing, the decision on whether to post video recordings for public viewing is within the sole discretion of the panel. No opinion or order need be entered regarding a suggestion that video be posted.
2.6.4 If, after oral argument, and considering the views of counsel or the public if any, the panel unanimously agrees that an argument presents issues of significant interest to the Public, the Bar, or the Academic Community, the panel will direct that a video recording of the argument be posted for public viewing on the court’s internet website.

The key word here is “unanimously.” No video will be posted unless all three panel judges agree to it after the argument. That means any single panel judge can veto video posting in any case or in every case.

And implicit in the new procedure is the near-certainty that video will not be posted the same day as the argument. I expect that will reduce or even eliminate the newsworthiness of the videos that are posted, and perhaps that’s the point.

Howard Bashman posted this reaction on How Appealing:

Unlike the Ninth Circuit, which now posts video footage of essentially all of that Court’s oral arguments on YouTube, the Third Circuit has decided to determine whether video of an oral argument will be posted online on a case-by-case basis, which would seem to add unnecessarily to each oral argument panel’s workload. And, unlike the Ninth Circuit, which has for quite some time live-streamed oral argument video on YouTube, we will have to wait and see how soon after oral arguments the Third Circuit will be placing online the oral argument videos selected for posting.

I anticipate that the Third Circuit will someday move to the Ninth Circuit’s approach of posting videos of essentially all oral arguments online. Here’s hoping that day arrives sooner rather than later.

Howard’s concerns strike me as well-founded, but I’m more skeptical than he is that the court will end up adopting the Ninth Circuit’s approach.

Hat tip to How Appealing for the new procedure; I’m curious how Bashman found out about it because the change does not appear on the court’s announcements page [UPDATE: now it does].

UPDATE: the court just posted this interesting and informative press release shedding light on the origin and goals of the new policy.