Kagan in 2009: Cameras in SCOTUS would show 'government working at a really high level'

Solicitor General Elena Kagan in 2009 all but endorsed the idea of televising the Supreme Court's oral arguments, putting her at odds with some of the bench's sitting justices.

While Justice Steven Breyer and others have long shot down that possibility, Kagan said at the Ninth Circuit Judiciary Conference last July that cameras in the courtroom would give the public access to proceedings that are "amazing and extraordinary."

"I have a feeling that they're going to make this decision themselves, and they're the best to make this decision themselves," Kagan said during the question-and-answer session, 10 months before President Barack Obama would nominate her to fill the vacancy left by Justice Anthony Stevens' retirement.

"This court, I think, is so smart, and so prepared, and so engaged, and everybody who gets up there at the podium -- they face the toughest questions, the most challenging questions are thrown at them," she continued. "And there is a debate of really extraordinary intellectual depth and richness."

"I think if you put the cameras in the courtroom, people would see... an institution of their government working at a really high level."

If confirmed, Kagan might not be the only sitting justice to signal support for cameras in the courtroom. Reportedly, Justice Sonia Sotomayor has similar thoughts on the matter, though she she offered something of a non-answer on the matter to the Senate Judiciary Committee last year.

Opposition to televising the Supreme Court's proceedings, however, is far more vocal. Justice David Souter once famously said cameramen would have to "roll over my dead body" to get equipment into the chamber. Justice Breyer only earlier this year told congressional lawmakers just as tersely, "It wouldn't be in our court."

View Kagan's full remarks after the jump. Segment begins at about 18:01.

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