It's hard not to feel a tingle of excitement when reading Tony Mauro's report of today's appearance at a House hearing by Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer -- an annual budget ritual that unexpectedly became a forum on the Supreme Court's transparency and public accountability. Mauro paints the scene as Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.) persistently and playfully confronts the justices with a simple plea for modernity and openness in the form of Internet video. Mauro writes:
Thomas and Breyer must have left the hearing feeling the momentum on cameras coming from Congress and from technology was heading strongly toward openness. If the Court eventually, finally, says yes sometime in this century, today's hearing of the financial services and general government subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will have played a significant part.
And Mauro's description of that moment, with Culberson wielding his digital camera, will be the official account of the moment the tide turned.
