The Florida Supreme Court's initiatives to improve access and build public trust and confidence.

• Author: Harding, Major B.

Meaningful access to justice goes hand in hand with public perceptions that our courts are trustworthy and deserving of faith. That is why the Supreme Court of Florida has emphasized public trust and confidence, and access to courts, during the administrations of its current and prior chief justices. These efforts have earned the court a reputation as a world leader for the innovative ways it serves the people of Florida.

The Internet and Public Education Programs

The groundwork was laid during earlier administrations through extensive work with planning commissions and the court's determination to explore the World Wide Web as a communications tool. In 1994, the court posted the first judicial website (http://www.ficourts.org/) ever to appear on the Internet, which it has operated continuously since. This website was greatly expanded in the years that followed, becoming the most service-oriented court collection anywhere on the Internet. Its popularity is evidenced by the fact that people access it at least seven million times a year, not counting the number of "visits" to a duplicate backup site (http://www.firn.edu/supct) that staff maintains on another Florida government agency server.

The Supreme Court Library has also enhanced its public service and access to information through development of an expanded Internet presence, which makes available an online catalog of its holdings, including Supreme Court documents (http://library.ficourts.org/). Technical assistance is also provided over the phone to members of the public who require assistance accessing these materials.

In 1997, the court pushed the envelope of web technology even further. In a partnership with Florida State University, the court began broadcasting its oral arguments over the Internet (http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel) in RealPlayer format.(1) An archive of prior arguments also is available at http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel/archmain.htm giving the public 24-hour-a-day access to the videos for months after arguments are finished. The live video feed is provided free of charge to television and cable systems via a transponder on the Telstar 4 satellite(2) owned by the state, which also makes the live broadcasts available to anyone with a satellite dish. These broadcasts epitomize the way technology can dramatically flatten barriers to freedom of information. Anyone on earth, at minimal cost, now can watch the arguments as they happen. This foreshadows a day when government agencies literally will operate their own television "networks" that can reach and provide services to citizens without first passing through a medium owned by others. As late as 1999, the court was the only judicial body in the world that made all of its public arguments available in video to anyone in the world who wants to watch via the web.

When the court's "Netcasts" began in 1997, its staff pioneered yet another cutting-edge project--an educational program to connect students and teachers with real court cases via the Internet broadcasts. It is supplemented with professionally developed curricula readymade for secondary school classrooms, distributed via the court's website.(3)

The primary goal of this "Case of the Month" program is to promote a better understanding of our legal system. It offers teachers and students a rare opportunity to develop a classroom project based on a real case heard in the Florida Supreme Court. Through this program, students learn more about the legal system while also seeing government operating in the real world. Class projects will even be considered for inclusion on the Florida Supreme Court's website at http://www.ficourts.org/courts/ supct/cyber or http://www.firn.edu/supct/cyber.

Cases of the month are chosen for their educational value and the likelihood they will be of interest to students. The very first case of the month, for example, posed a high-tech problem for students to probe. It was based on a real case: Someone had attacked two Argentinean tourists visiting Miami, and David Harrell was arrested for the crime. The couple would not return to the United States for trial, so the prosecuting attorney persuaded the trial judge to let them testify live via satellite from Argentina. Harrell believed this violated the right to confront witnesses guaranteed by the federal Constitution.

Through cases like this, students and teachers are able to explore the most basic principles underlying the American...