Video recording of Supreme Court sessions has always been prohibited. The reason for that, CNN says, is "that cameras would upset the personal dynamic between [the justices] that make [sic] oral arguments so unique and useful to their later deliberations and opinion-writing." Others say that, if judges knew they were being recorded and watched by the public, then their judiciary decisions might begin losing their objectivity.
Well, history has recently been made with a video secretly recorded in the courtroom in 2013 being posted to YouTube for the world to see. The video is of a session involving the case Shaun McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, which is challenging the campaign donation limits.
The video was shot by 99 Rise, an activist group that works to protect democracy against corruption, and features its cofounder Kai Newkirk standing up in protest, as he shouts:
"I rise on behalf of the vast majority of the American people who believe that money is not speech, corporations are not people and our democracy should not be for sale to the highest bidder. Overturn Citizens United. Keep the cap in McCutcheon. The people demand democracy."
Newkirk was quickly escorted out of the chamber, and the justices ignored his protest. But now the video is out for the world to see his act of bravery. Watch the video above for the first instance of footage ever recorded in the Supreme Court and coverage by The Young Turks.
