Alex Cameron: Covering The Supreme Court, Honoring A Judicial Pioneer

Without question, the vast majority of my time since arriving here in Washington four years ago has been spent at the U.S. Capitol (and its complex of House and Senate office buildings). I knew that serving as Griffin’s DC Correspondent would also require that I drop in at the White House from time to time and that I occasionally hop over to the Supreme Court.

With regard to the latter, however, I very much underestimated just how many ‘occasions’ there would be for me to cover the highest court in the land.

Shortly after starting this adventure, I actually marked on my calendar — and had hoped to attend — the oral arguments for McGirt v. Oklahoma, originally scheduled for April 21, 2020. But then COVID -19 happened. Arguments were postponed until May 11 and were done by telephone.

The silver lining was that the Court provided an audio feed of the hearing and so, although I missed a chance to potentially cover it in person, everyone with an internet connection was able to follow the arguments in real time. This proved to be a popular feature, making the Court more transparent, and has become de rigueur.

The McGirt decision came out in July 2020, beginning a string of important Supreme Court stories. The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (RBG) in September, 2020 was of course a big story in itself, but made even more so because it gave then-President Trump his third opportunity to fill a vacancy and cement the Court’s conservative leaning— which he did, despite the proximity to the presidential election.

It has been one thing after another since then: the Court rejecting Trump’s election challenges, upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), giving Oklahoma jurisdiction in certain criminal cases that occur in Indian Country, overturning Roe v Wade, ending affirmative action in college admissions, and more.

On December 18, 2023, in covering the latest SCOTUS story, I finally set foot inside the Supreme Court, something I had hoped to do back in 2020. Sandra Day O’Connor, the nation’s first female Supreme Court Justice who passed away December 1, lay in repose in the Great Hall, her flag-draped coffin placed atop the Lincoln catafalque.

Members of the public were invited to pay their last respects to this trailblazing jurist and I was honored to do so myself.