Why it Matters

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on three pieces of legislation that would reshape how Americans see their federal courts, and how the law protects their faces and voices in the age of artificial intelligence. The business meeting, scheduled for Thursday, June 11 puts the two court transparency bills and a landmark AI likeness bill either on a path toward the Senate floor, or stops them cold.

S.1133, the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act, and S.1146, the Cameras in the Courtroom Act, would open federal courtrooms, including the Supreme Court, to television cameras for the first time. Meanwhile, S.4591, the NO FAKES Act of 2026, would create a new federal property right over every American's voice and visual likeness, with penalties reaching $750,000 per work for platforms that distribute unauthorized AI-generated replicas.

The committee will also vote on six judicial nominees and a nominee for Department of Justice Inspector General.

The Court Transparency Push

The two cameras bills have a long legislative history with a simple theory, namely that federal courts are public institutions, and the public should be able to watch them at work.

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced both bills together on March 26, 2025, a bipartisan pairing that signals genuine institutional momentum. Grassley is the lead sponsor of S.1133, which covers appellate and district courts. Durbin leads S.1146, which focuses specifically on the Supreme Court. Every cosponsor of S.1146 sits on the Judiciary Committee itself.

S.1133 would give federal judges discretion to permit photography, video recording, and broadcasting of proceedings. District court authority would expire after three years, functioning as a pilot program. Witnesses could request their faces and voices be obscured; jurors could never be filmed; and the Judicial Conference would be required to issue protective guidelines within six months of enactment for crime victims, minors, and cooperating witnesses.

S.1146 takes a harder line on the Supreme Court. Rather than granting discretion, it would mandate television coverage of all open sessions unless a majority of justices voted that doing so would violate a party's due process rights in a specific case. The Court has historically refused cameras on its own, making legislation the only available lever.

Both bills have been introduced in multiple prior Congresses without becoming law. The June 11 business meeting is the first formal committee action either one has received in the 119th Congress.

The AI Likeness Bill

The third legislative item on the agenda carries the most immediate commercial and cultural weight. S.4591, the NO FAKES Act of 2026, would establish that every person has the exclusive right to authorize the use of their voice or visual likeness in a digitally generated replica.

The legislation creates civil liability for entities that publicly distribute unauthorized digital replicas, with penalties ranging from $5,000 per work for individuals to $750,000 per work for non-compliant online platforms. Platforms that designate a registered agent with the Copyright Office and respond promptly to takedown notices receive safe harbor protection, modeled on the existing DMCA framework.

The right would last during an individual's lifetime and up to 70 years after death, with heirs able to renew in five-year increments. News reporting, documentary, satire, parody, and scholarship are exempt, except when depicting sexually explicit conduct.

The Nominations

Alongside the three bills, the committee will consider seven nominations: Benjamin M. Flowers of Ohio to the Sixth Circuit; Matthew A. Schwartz of New York to the Second Circuit; Michael J. Hendershot to the Northern District of Ohio; Jeffrey T. Kuntz to the Southern District of Florida; Arthur Roberts Jones and John George Edward Marck, both to the Southern District of Texas; and Don Richard Berthiaume Jr. of Virginia to be Inspector General of the Department of Justice.

The Committee

Chuck Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee for the 119th Congress, with Dick Durbin as ranking member. The committee meets Thursday, June 11 at 10:15 a.m. in 216 Hart Senate Office Building.

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