I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
If oral arguments before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals were on iTunes, Trace Rabern would totally download Brown v. Board of Education. That civil-rights case was one the reasons the Santa Fe-based criminal attorney and appellate writer went to law school in the first place.
“We rarely get to review oral arguments now,” Rabern says. “We certainly don’t get transcripts. We can motion the court for an audio recording, but it is a cumbersome process.”
But now the court–which hears appeals from the district courts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the Northern, Eastern and Western district courts of Oklahoma–has issued an order opening up its audio recordings.
Simply put in the two-page order:
Specifically, beginning with that term, parties or others seeking access to the recordings may file a motion with the court. The motion should address the reason or reasons for seeking access. Upon issuance of an order granting the request, the Clerk will be directed to forward the audio recording to the requesting party via email. The form of the recordings are mp3 files.
Self-identified “appellate nerd,” Blain D. Myhre (he blogs at Colorado-AppealsBlog.com) says appellate courts vary widely on policies when it comes to transcripts and recordings of oral arguments.
“Some courts you can get both. Some you can get neither,” Myhre says. “I prefer transcripts if I have to review an argument quickly (assuming the transcript is of good quality), and transcripts are more helpful if I have to submit something to the court or a lower court about what transpired in the argument. But to get the true sense of the argument, the audio is far superior. The transcript does not convey the emotion or tone of the live exchange.”
The new process is not quite as streamlined as iTunes, but it’s a only a first step towards digital distribution.The bare-bones interim policy is in effect until the court can adopt a formal rule. The public can send comments and suggestions for the formal rule to the Clerk of the Court through the end of the year (1823 Stout St., Denver, CO, 80257, or via email to 10th_Circuit_clerk@ca10.uscourts.gov).
