FTC’s Gabe Roth has an op-ed today in SCOTUSblog saying that he wishes Judge Jackson during her confirmation hearings would say that she’s pro-cameras in the Supreme Court — or at least in favor of maintaining live audio of oral arguments.

But she won’t say that, Roth says. (Mar. 23 update: she didn’t.) He writes:

“Every time there’s a Supreme Court confirmation hearing, at least one senator on the Judiciary Committee asks the nominee his or her views on cameras in the courtroom.

“But like everything else during these carefully choreographed hearings nowadays, nominees typically give a boring, noncommittal answer in response. We can call this the ‘Cameras Corollary,’ to the so-called ‘Ginsburg Rule,’ where a nominee offers ‘no forecasts, no hints’ about how he or she views a judicial issue before ascending to the high court. […] This trend is maddening.

“Just like there’s not really a Ginsburg Rule, there shouldn’t be a Cameras Corollary. The public deserves to know if a nominee trusts the public to see with our own eyes, and in real time, what goes on during Supreme Court oral arguments.”

Roth concludes by saying his best guess is that cameras will come to the court once there’s a generational turnover — i.e., after the older generation of justices (Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts) leaves the bench.

Read the op-ed here.