Muckety mover - SCOTUS behind the times

How bad is the U.S. Supreme Court web site?

On the day that Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the newest justice, the top item on the court’s “what’s new” page was “Amendments to Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal procedure prescribed by the Court and reported to Congress by the Chief Justice, on March 26, 2009.”

The court’s efforts to stay above the fray are laudable, if somewhat laughable, given the 2000 presidential election.

But remaining above popular opinion is not the same as remaining beyond public inquiry.

The court needs to communicate with the electorate. That means topical news releases, profiles of the justices and easier access to case files.

When it comes to online transparency, the court has a long way to go before it catches up to the White House.

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• Muck tracker - Justice Ginsburg plans return to court - February 9, 2009
• Moral: Judiciary should delete ’stuff’ from laptops - July 5, 2009
• The Federalist Society litmus test - November 20, 2007
• Judge rules that White House staffers can be subpoenaed - July 31, 2008
• Sandra Day O’Connor plays the bench - August 12, 2009
• Muckety mover - Recovery package leverages the web - February 21, 2009
• Supreme Court justices lose freebie memberships - October 7, 2008