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 Supreme
Court Audio Set for Downloading
by Phoung Le, The Associated Press, August 6, 2003
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Getting audio recordings of landmark legal arguments is becoming
as easy as downloading the latest Snoop Dogg single.
For the first time, Internet users can download, edit and swap
many of the U.S. Supreme Court's greatest hits.
Oral arguments available include those for the Roe v. Wade
abortion-rights case and the disputed 2000 presidential
election.
The audio files come from the OYEZ Project, a multimedia archive
that gets its name from the phrase synonymous with "Hear ye,
Hear ye."
"There's so much more information and emotion in the human voice
that a transcript can't do it justice," said Jerry Goldman, the
project's director and a professor at Northwestern University.
Goldman said the bitterness in Justice Thurgood Marshall's voice
is apparent when he explains his views in Regents v. Bakke, a
1978 affirmative action case. And the silence is deadening in
Roe v. Wade when Jay Floyd, representing Texas, makes a joke but
no one laughs.
Since 1994, the OYEZ Project, run out of Northwestern, has made
audio of the cases available in a "streaming" format that
requires a continuous Internet connection. Available were some
2,000 hours of audio dating to 1955, when taping of oral
arguments began.
The project is converting the files to the MP3 format, which
permits offline listening, use of portable devices and sharing
through the same peer-to-peer networks used to swap music and
movies. The first batch of MP3 files was released in late June.
The MP3 files are available at no charge. Users can share the
files if they agree to credit OYEZ and limit uses to
noncommercial reasons.
Goldman said he ultimately wants to make available in MP3 every
bit of Supreme Court recordings, about 6,000 hours in all. He
also wants them easily searchable.
"The whole idea is to build a digital commons, make accessible
materials that are really valuable in a free and open society,"
he said.
David Pride, executive director of the Supreme Court Historical
Society, said the project appeals to attorneys, particularly
those who argue before the court.
"It is the only opportunity you have to see what questioning
before the court is like," Pride said.
On the Net:
http://www.oyez.org
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