Hear ye, Hear ye -- and BZ to AFCCA

This morning I attended the AFCCA Project Outreach argument in Charleston, South Carolina, where it was a balmy 30 degrees. After the argument, the court held a question and answer session during which Chief Judge Wise revealed that AFCCA will soon be recording its oral arguments and making the audio available on the Internet. He estimated that the system would be up and running in three weeks. BZ, AFCCA!

We've previously noted that NMCCA has begun the practice of recording its oral arguments and making them available on the web. We've also previously noted that the Coast Guard Court records its argument, but doesn't make the tapes available to anyone but the court's personnel. (I opined that the Coast Guard Court would have to disgorge the recordings if it received a FOIA request seeking them -- did anyone ever try that to see what would happen? One hopes that NMCCA's and AFCCA's examples will lead CGCCA to make its argument tapes publicly available rather than hoarding them for internal use only.) As we all know, for years CAAF has recorded its arguments and made them publicly available on the Internet. And the Supremes record their arguments and make them publicly available at the end of each term.

Once AFCCA's new practice kicks in, that would appear to leave just one court in the entire military justice appellate chain that doesn't record its arguments: ACCA. What are the prospects for ACCA following its sister courts? Army Lurker?