katrina@ucsd.edu

Given the importance of government transparency for American democracy, why is the judiciary often exempted from this ideal? Secrecy exists in all branches of government, but in the judiciary it’s often embraced as essential for proper ethics rather than viewed as a threat to them. I address this puzzle by looking at the history of government transparency, both as a concept and as a set of policies, and by analyzing three judicial realms: Supreme Court confirmation battles, the debate over cameras in the courtroom, and the relationship between judges and the media. For each case, I analyze media coverage, legislation, policy documents, case law, hearing transcripts, and legal commentary. I argue that, while government transparency and the federal judiciary were always structured around different principles and thus somewhat at odds, the chasm between them has been widened by changes in transparency practices during the 20th century. New developments in technology, the news media, political culture and political institutions have reshaped the meaning and practice of transparency, and the resulting new forms include the “personalization of politics,” and what I am calling the “performance of transparency.” The judiciary has been resistant to these changes because courts operate differently from other government institutions and because judges have a different cultural role from other government officials. I conclude by looking at recent changes in the public image of the Supreme Court justices and by considering whether they have become celebrities and what this means for transparency and the judiciary..

Qualifying paper titles: “Associations and Democracy” and “Twentieth Century Supreme Court Confirmations: Arguments and Participants.”

Dissertation title: The Politics of Visibility: Transparency, Secrecy, and the United States Judiciary. Expected completion May 2009.

Advisor: Robert Horwitz.  Committee Members: Michael Schudson, Daniel Hallin, Valerie Hartouni (all in Communication), Alan Houston (Political Science), Michael Belknap (History and California Western School of Law).