Chief Justice John Roberts said Thursday the Supreme Court is not interested in televising its hearings and might never be.
"All of the justices view themselves as trustees of an extremely valuable institution," Roberts told dozens of federal judges, attorneys and their family members at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach, Calif. "We're going to be very careful before we do anything that will have an adverse impact on that."
Roberts, a President Bush appointee who just finished his first term last month, told a conference of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that "We don't have oral arguments to show people, the public, how we function."
While states allow some camera coverage of court proceedings, cameras are forbidden in federal district courts. Federal appeals courts have varying policies, with the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit often permitting print and television cameras during hearings.
Resistance to television, however, has been stiffest at the Supreme Court, which releases audio tapes of its hearings.