The real reason Supreme Court Justices are queasy about cameras may be a simpler one: they are simply not used to being second-guessed. The Supreme Court is not only at the top of the judicial branch — it has the final say in disputes with the President or Congress. In other words, it is used to getting its way. This carries over into how the court runs its own business. A case in point: conflicts of interest. There is no procedure for forcing a Justice to recuse himself or herself from a case. It is entirely their own choice. When Justice Antonin Scalia declared that he could fairly decide a case involving Vice President Dick Cheney, even though he and the vice president had just gone duck hunting together, that ended the matter.

Television cameras would be a sudden jolt of accountability for a body that is not used to it. Cameras could capture members of the court making troubling statements — like Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s notorious suggestion, at the Bush v. Gore argument, that Florida voters whose ballots were not counted had only themselves to blame. They could remind the public that Justice Clarence Thomas has not asked a question at an argument in years. They could even capture a Justice nodding off.