Appeals Court Puts Oral Arguments on YouTube

By Stephanie Beougher - April 3, 2015

The Ninth District Court of Appeals is in session. If you can't make it in person to the courtroom in Akron, there's always YouTube.

"The court has always been trying to think of ways to make our court more accessible to the public," Administrative Judge Donna Carr said.

Judge Carr and her four colleagues on the court decided that public access should be in the form of recording oral arguments and posting them to YouTube - with the potential to reach a billion people worldwide.

To accomplish that, they've set up an iPad on a stand that can be used in any of the four courtrooms in the appeals district. An app helps lower the resolution to be able to record several hours of arguments. It's a relatively inexpensive way to provide a public education tool.

"It goes in conjunction too with our Classroom in the Court program, where we go out and visit the different schools - we take the whole court there. The students and the educators can go online and see our court arguments and can use it for their curriculum if they'd like," Judge Carr said of the new videos.

There are more than 70 oral arguments on the Ninth District's YouTube channel, with about 1,200 views - a number Judge Carr hopes will increase as more people become aware that the videos are available.

"The main thing that I'd like to see and I think the other judges would like to see, is just a positive experience with the court and education so they have some idea of how it really works."

At least one other appeals court in Ohio has tested video recording equipment and is considering the option of providing online videos.