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Supreme Court to provide audio tape of argumentsSimilar arrangement made for Bush v. Gore arguments
By Bill Mears
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Because of the overwhelming public interest in Tuesday's affirmative action arguments, the Supreme Court will release to the public audio tapes of arguments the same day they are made. It is only the second time in Supreme Court history that audio tapes have been released the same day arguments were made. After the arguments are made, an audio tape will be given to a network pool, which will provide it to television and radio networks. Media organizations, including CNN, had lobbied the justices to quickie make tapes of the arguments available. Similar arrangements were made in the Bush v. Gore arguments in December 2000, when the recount of Florida ballots was contested. Open court arguments have been recorded and archived since the 1950s, but tapes are normally not available until months later, and not widely available to the public. All federal courts, including the Supreme Court, ban cameras while in session. The affirmative action cases involve two separate lawsuits. One affects the admission policies at the University of Michigan's undergraduate program. The other deals with Michigan's law school. A large number of groups and individuals have weighed in with their opinions in the affirmative action cases. Court clerks have been buried in paper, handling a record number of so called "friend-of-the court" briefs. Massive amount of supporting briefsThe Court says several hundred supporting briefs, or memos outlining legal reasoning of facts, were filed by a mid-February deadline. The key principals in the case, including the plaintiffs and the university, are required to file briefs, which form the basis of the arguments in open court session. The Bush administration also filed a brief opposing Michigan's affirmative action policy Briefs supporting Michigan's position outnumbered those opposing the policy by about 3-to-1. About 14,000 students signed one brief alone that supports the school. Each justice receives a copy of every brief. While the amount of influence each brief carries varies with each justice, such documents serve as a potentially powerful public relations tool for the people and groups filing them. The American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Human Rights Campaign are among the advocacy groups supporting Michigan. The American Conservative Union, Federation for American Immigration Reform, and the Campaign for a Color-Blind America back the students bringing the lawsuit. Those standing behind the university also have a higher public profile, including dozens of Fortune 500 companies such as Reebok, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Shell Oil, and American Airlines. A group of Democratic senators also filed a separate brief, including presidential candidates John Kerry and John Edwards. In another filing, several prominent former military leaders say affirmative action is good for the armed forces. The current military figures named in the supporting brief includes Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who rose to fame during the first Gulf War, and retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On the other side, the students have the support of the Wall Street Journal, the state of Florida, a group of law professors and the Bush administration. The cases are Grutter v. Bollinger (Case No. 02-0241), involving the University of Michigan's law school; and Gratz v. Bollinger (Vase No. 02-0516), involving the undergraduate program.
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