Electronic media coverage of criminal proceedings in federal trial courts has been prohibited since the criminal rules were adopted in 1946 and by the Judicial Conference since 1972. In a historic move, the U.S. Federal Judicial Center authorized a pilot project to study the effects of “Cameras in U.S. Federal Courtrooms”. Mobile Studios was honored to be awarded the contract to design and install five customized systems based on our PortaCast® Mini-50 Flypack for the pilot project.

Installation and training conducted by Mobile Studios was completed at participating U.S. District Courthouses located in Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Montgomery, Alabama. Multi-cam video production of courtroom proceedings may now be recorded, streamed and/or available for on-demand viewing with the approval of the presiding judge, as well as consent from all parties. Unless the presiding judge decides not to make the recordings publicly available, they will subsequently be posted on www.uscourts.gov, as well as on local participating court websites at the court’s discretion. At the completion of the pilot project in September 2013, the Federal Judicial Center will evaluate the results and decide the future of cameras in U.S. Federal Courthouses nationwide.