MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010

KLMNO

THE FED PAGE

ROBERT BARNES

The High Court

Justices remain camera-shy

A

s two Supreme Court jus- tices submitted to their an- nual, gentle congressional

interrogation last week, it seemed for the briefest of moments that there might be movement on the most perennial of questions about the court: whether its proceed- ings will ever be televised. Responding to such a query,

Justice Stephen G. Breyer said that, in fact, the U.S. Judicial Con- ference is considering a pilot pro- gram to examine the issue of cam- eras in federal courts. “And that would be a pilot proj-

ect in your courtroom?” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked hopefully. Moment over. “No,” Breyer re- plied. “It wouldn’t be in our court. . . . The judicial conference does not have to do with our court. It has to do with the lower court.” And so it goes, on and on. Con- gress pushes for televised pro- ceedings, and the court listens po- litely and says, “No thanks.” If anything, it seems less interested in making available to the public the sounds of the oral arguments that take place inside the Marble Palace. Last week, C-SPAN said the

court rejected its request, as well as from others, to release same- day audio of Monday’s oral argu-

ments in CLS v. Martinez. That

First Amendment case tests whether a public university’s anti- discrimination policy violates a religious student group’s freedom of speech and exercise of religion. The denial, which came with-

out explanation, as is the court’s custom, marks a shutout for the network this term. The court de- nied all seven requests, though it did release same-day audio in September of oral arguments in

Citizens United v. Federal Election

Commission, a case carried over from last term. In every term since John G.

Roberts Jr. became chief justice in 2005, the court has denied a greater percentage of requests. According to C-SPAN’s records, the court has granted 10 of 34 re- quests in the past five terms. Be- cause the court does not give rea- sons for such decisions, it is hard to know, for instance, why audio was released for the 2008 argu- ments in the landmark Second

Amendment case District of Co-

lumbia v. Heller, but not for this year’s Second Amendment argu-

ments in McDonald v. City of Chi- cago.

Or why the audio request for

Justice Samuel A. Alito’s investi- ture in 2006 was denied, but cam- eras and a pool of reporters were

invited for Justice Sonia Soto- mayor’s swearing-in. Schiff complained to Breyer

and Justice Clarence Thomas, who appeared before a House Ap- propriations subcommittee to present the court’s proposed budget, that coverage by the me- dia still relies on “sketches and audiotapes, which seems anach- ronistic. I actually think the change is inevitable.” Breyer said Schiff might be right, and in truth he is one of the justices least likely to make a full- throated argument for keeping things the way they are. Breyer said he is aware that

cameras could be “a big plus for the court and for the public. I think they’ll see that we do our job seri- ously. We don’t always get every- thing right, but we take it very seri- ously. People are well prepared; the lawyers are well prepared. The judges are trying to think out prob- lems that are difficult problems. And for the public to see that, I think, would be a plus.” But he said that if the Supreme

Court allowed cameras, there would be pressure on criminal trial courts to do the same, and that concerns some judges. He re- peated the worry of other justices that showing oral arguments, which can be dense with legalese

CONVERSATIONS: JON JARVIS

A stroll through the nation’s parks with the veteran ranger at the top

The National Park Service celebrates National Park Week this week by waiving entrance fees at the nation’s 392 national parks. National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis discusses the program, the new law allowing guns in park and his 34-year career with the agency.

Q

Why are parks free this week?

It’s an invitation to the American public to

come visit their national parks. . . . It’s a great celebration and op- portunity to reacquaint with our parks.

The week of festivities is also tied to the 40th anniversary of Earth Day?

Earth Day is Thursday, April

22. There are over 300 [events] across the country. We have some events right here in D.C. around the Washington Monument. We have about 600 kids coming in to participate in a range of activi- ties.

How much will the fee waiver cost the Park Service in lost revenue?

A little less than $1 million a day, so about $9 million total.

Is it worth the cost?

Absolutely. Our fee program is

a great program, because we use it specifically to improve facilities for the visitors. . . . But occasion- ally, it’s important to waive this fee. We’ll do it again in August. The fee program is only a supple- ment to the regular appropria- tions we get from Congress to op- erate the National Park system.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

How are overall visits to the parks going this year?

It’s up. We got a bump last

year, about 4 percent, or 287 mil- lion last year. We’ll probably hit 290 million this year. I think it’s always hard to ex-

actly pin down why visitation goes up or down. A lot of it is tied to the economy, and you can probably give some credit to the Ken Burns series [“The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” on PBS] in drawing some attention to the National Park system. You can give some credit to the econ- omy and folks who couldn’t af- ford to go to Europe, so they’re reengaging with great places here in the United States.

Guns are now permitted on the grounds of many parks, de- pending on state firearms laws. Have there been any incidents and how have park staffers ad- justed to the new laws?

There’ve been organizations

that have come to the parks to demonstrate their new rights to carry, and we’ve been very pro- fessional in their rights to carry. But no incidents out of the ordi- nary. We ensured that citizens were

expected to know their rights whether or not they’re in compli- ance with state rights, and our employees are well prepared with training. And sites where guns are prohibited are well signed so that the public do not bring their

weapons into those. I think it’s frankly worked out pretty well so far. [Protesters plan to bring their guns to a “Restore the Constitu- tion” rally Monday at Fort Hunt and Gravelly Point parks on the banks of the Potomac River.]

You’re a 34-year veteran of

the National Park Service. Why did you join the agency?

I started right here in Wash-

ington, D.C., as a seasonal em- ployee on the Mall. I started at the Bicentennial Information Center in 1976 in the Commerce Department building, where the White House Visitor Center is. I’d known about the National Park Service from growing up in rural Virginia near Shenandoah National Park, and I had a biolo- gy degree and I really wanted to pursue this as a career.

At how many have you

worked?

Eight actual parks (the Mall,

Prince William Forest Park in Virginia, Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, North Cascades National Park in Washington, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska and Mt. Rainier in Washington),and then I served as the regional director for the Pacific West, where I had 54 parks under my responsibility.

Do you have any memorable stories from working at those parks?

When you see those pictures of the big brown Alaskan red bears standing at the waterfall and catching fish with their teeth, it happens at two places, the McNeil River and the Brooks Riv- er.

The Brooks River is a really

short little river, maybe a couple miles long, two lakes between and a fair amount of fall in the river. It’s a great place to fish. I am a fly fisherman. I was fishing that river by myself very late in the day, and I had a big old brown bear take a very strong in- terest in me. For about an hour and a half it was cat-and-mouse with me and the bear. I wound up swimming the river several times and floating past him and getting out of the bank as he actively pur- sued — not in an attack mode, but was never more than 15 feet from me at any time until I got back to my cabin. He literally followed me up to the cabin door. I burst into the cabin totally soaking wet and my brother was sitting in the cabin reading a book in front of the fire. “What happened to you?” he

asked. “Look out the window,” I said, and there was the bear staring at the door.

—Interview by Ed O’Keefe

As we struggle to come to terms with the loss of so many of our illustrious Poles, we are strengthened by the overwhelming demonstration of friendship and support for Poland.

Through our tears and grief, rest assured an ever stronger Poland will emerge.

THANK YOU AMERICA

On behalf of the Polish People and our Government, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the

President of the United States, the American People, and all of the Polish Americans.

Your Solidarity with Poland in the aftermath of last week’s tragedy, which took the lives of President Lech Kaczyn´ski, First Lady Maria Kaczyn´ska, and 94 other political, civic, military, and religious leaders

will never be forgotten.

Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, joined in 1976.

At a House hearing last week, justices Clarence Thomas, left, and Stephen G. Breyer were asked about possibly televising Supreme Court proceedings. Breyer responded that it could be “a big plus for the court and for the public.” But he said if the court allowed cameras, criminal trial courts would face similar pressure.

ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

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and hypotheticals, might not lead to greater understanding of what the court does.

“Because you can only show the

oral argument, which is 1 percent of what goes on,” Breyer said. And he said the court already provides the public, in the form of its opinions and dissents, a de- tailed explanation of its actions. “A good appellate judge — the ideal — is you write not just the words [of an opinion], you write the reasons why you wrote the words,” Breyer said. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), a

longtime advocate of cameras at the Supreme Court, said last week that televised proceedings would show what the public already

thinks: that the court is an ideo- logical battleground for society’s most contentious issues. But he, too, seems to have tired

of the fight. His bill to require the court to televise its proceedings has been downgraded to a recom- mendation. He still thinks Con- gress has the right to force the court to make such a move, he said, but if it comes down to a separation-of-powers argument, he knows who has the final word.

Verbatim

Later in the hearing . . . Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.):

“Just one last question. Just, I’ve always — I’ve got two bright peo- ple in front of me. And when I was

reading law cases, one time I read a case and I can’t remember the case and I can’t remember the jus- tice. But the statement was that versatility of circumstance often mocks the natural desire for de- finitiveness. And I always — does that ring a bell with you all, and was that Felix Frankfurter, or — not that you would know that. But I always wondered who said that. I need to go back and look that up. Breyer: (Smile.) Thomas: “Google it.” Crenshaw: “Google it?” Thomas: “Yeah, you should

Google it, yeah. You can Google on your BlackBerry.” Crenshaw: “Well, I’ll do that.”

barnesbob@washpost.com

Federal benefits payments to go electronic

by Ed O’Keefe

Most Social Security and other

federal benefits payments will be made by direct deposit by 2013, the Treasury Department is set to announce Monday. The decision will eliminate about 136 million paper checks sent by the Social Security Administration, Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs, Railroad Retirement Board and Office of Personnel Management. The switch is part of a broader plan to shift away from paper- based payments and transactions,

and it will require businesses us- ing Federal Tax Deposit coupons to move to electronic tax pay- ments. The Treasury also plans to cut the purchase of paper savings bonds through payroll sales. The plans should save taxpayers about $400 million in processing, post- age and paper costs in the first five years, the Treasury said. Americans who enroll on or af-

ter March 1, 2011, for benefits pay- ments will receive them by direct deposit or be enrolled in the gov- ernment’s Direct Express Debit MasterCard program if they do not provide bank account infor-

mation. Beneficiaries now receiv- ing payments will switch to direct deposit or the debit card by March 1, 2013, after agencies in- form them of the changes, Trea- sury said. Efforts at mandating direct

payments have failed because the government had not established the debit card program for people who don’t have bank accounts, said Assistant Treasury Secretary Richard L. Gregg. “Now we have it,” he said. “It’s a proven card, and we think it’s a very good alterna- tive.”

ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com

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