The Oyez.org Website would be a useful tool for historical research on oral presentations at the Supreme Court. With more than 2000 hours of U.S. Supreme Court audio clips, Jerry Goldman’s Oyez site would give the historical researcher the rare opportunity to actually listen to the arguments and opinions, rather than simply read the transcripts.
Oyez is essentially an archival site, with a multi-media emphasis. Although it has some analysis, as in the author’s version of what the court cases are about and what the implications are, it is primarily a searchable database with case briefs and audio recordings. It also offers a QTVR tour of the Supreme Court, pictures and very brief factual information on the justices, news links, and links to the lower court cases. It is well designed and apparently current, which requires a lot of work. The organization appears to make sense to legal experts, someone familiar with SCOTUS docket number, and so forth, but is not as intuitive for non-expert visitors. The sound files of the arguments and decisions are the major resource here, and right now they are only complete back to 1995, with only selected clips back to 1955.
The Oyez site has some of the usual link problems that plague the Web: some internal links, such as “discussion,” are broken, some of the external news link, such as one to Bloomberg.com were old and no longer good, and the previous URL for this site has no link to this current address. One nagging problem is that the cases are listed in abstract form only, with links on the side to audio, when available, but with no link directly to full case details, such as a transcript of the lower court case or the full transcript of the arguments or the decision. A little more searching or a few more clicks can find these, when available, but a more direct link would be useful.
The tour of the Supreme Court is offered in QTVY format, requiring an up-to-date Quicktime plug-in, a technology perhaps too advanced for some visitors. Use of such technology close to the cutting edge always has the danger of frustrating some visitors and of possibly not withstanding the test of time. The audio clips, while sometimes causing connection and format problems, are in a standard MP3 format. Interestingly, the clips are also offered as “smil” files, which according to the W3C Website, is pronounced “smile” and is a “Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language” which enables simple authoring of interactive audiovisual presentations. Here, it is a useful way to allow a enhanced audio clip which includes still pictures and a transcript along with the audio. (Click here to try it if you have a recent version of RealAudio.)
This Website would be extremely useful for an historical research project that analyzes the actual oral arguments of SCOTUS cases. In arguing a case in front of this court, lawyers not only file their briefs, but they also argue the case orally in front of the court. These arguments are extremely limited in time, lasting only 30 minutes for each, and subject to a great deal of interruption by the justices. Students and scholars have a great deal of difficulty in actually hearing these arguments, as general public access is limited to only a few minutes of each case for some of those who wait in line early in the morning. Classes and scholars can sometimes gain more complete access, but it requires booking a full year in advance, and you are not only not allowed to record any pictures and sound, you cannot even take any notes at all! With this archive, instead of simply researching the printed records, here you could actually listen to the recordings and analyze the actual oral presentation. Changes in actual presentation style, including the justices habit of interrupting to ask questions, have, or course, changed over time. Only by hearing the actually audio could you adequately analyze the oral aspects. (Video clips, which are not available, would allow for a more complete analysis.) Of course, you could only go back as far as the audio files do, which, according to the Website, will eventually go back further. “It remains our aim to create a complete and authoritative archive of Supreme Court audio covering the entire span from October 1955 through the most recent release.” There are some audio clips from the 50s and 60s, making some analysis of the oral presentations possible.
Posted by Roger at November 8, 2004 02:12 PM