Bring Minnesota's courts out of hiding

Minnesota courtrooms need a good airing out, and allowing the limited use of cameras and other recording devices inside them would be a significant first step.

In the voting booth, Minnesotans are asked to approve a long list of judges, typically running unopposed, of whom they have very limited or no knowledge.

The judiciary is the third branch of government but one where the news media provides the public with no perceptible ongoing coverage of its inner workings nor sorely needed scrutiny. Imagine if the actions and decisions of our president, governors and legislators were rarely covered by America's press.

Furthermore, it's very common in news reports relaying a specific judge's legal decision that the judge's name will not even be mentioned, referred to only as "a judge."

The fact Minnesota lags far behind other states in allowing cameras in courtrooms and that such a collection of powerful interests is so vehemently opposed to it speaks clearly to the need to bring Minnesota's courts out of hiding.

Long-time personal experience involving loved ones across Minnesota taught me that in a Minnesota Probate Court a vulnerable, elderly person innocent of any wrongdoing may easily receive more punishment and less justice when it comes to limiting their personal freedom than a defendant in Criminal Court charged with a felony and subject to a possible sentence.

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Bring Minnesota's courts out of hiding