The impending departure of David "Over My Dead Body" Souter from the Supreme Court raises anew the question of whether television cameras might be admitted to cover oral arguments.

The almost-certain answer is: not anytime soon. Nonetheless, on Thursday Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter said he was pressing court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to let cameras in. Said Specter:

"In an electronic era where the public obtains much, if not most, of its news and information from television, there is a strong case in my judgment that the Supreme Court of the United States should have its public proceedings televised just as the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate are televised."

Check out Specter's full Senate comments here on C-SPAN, which has been a long-time proponent of bringing televisions into the court.

In a new letter sent to Sotomayor, Specter usefully includes a summary of where other justices have been on the television issue. He cites Justice John Paul Stevens as saying in 1989 that televised court hearings were "worth a try," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as saying she supported "gavel-to-gavel" coverage, Justice Anthony Kennedy as saying in 1990 that television was "inevitable" and Chief Justice John Roberts as saying during his 2005 confirmation hearings that he would keep an open mind.

Specter currently has only five co-sponsors of his latest bill, S. 446,  regarding televised coverage of the Supreme Court.

In truth, the next step in modernizing media access to the court will come in getting same-day release of the audio recordings of all oral arguments. Right now, the court picks and chooses, releasing same-day audio recordings of those cases deemed particularly significant. This inherently subjective criteria leaves out most cases, and for no particularly good reason.

Suits & Sentences says: Free the tapes! At the least, this will provide a useful educational purpose; potentially, as well, it can be a confidence-building measure that sets the foundation for the next step.