Court Reporters: Guardians of Integrity in America’s Judiciary

Posted bystenoimperiumPosted inCourt Reporting, Legal ServicesTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Introduction

In a time when public trust in institutions is often questioned, the role of court reporters has never been more vital. At the 2025 National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) Leadership & Legislative event, U.S. Senator Mark Warner underscored the essential function these professionals serve in maintaining the integrity of the American judicial system. Speaking to an audience of court reporters, captioners, and legal videographers, Warner highlighted the increasing demands on the judicial system and the pivotal role court reporters play in ensuring fairness and transparency.

The Role of Court Reporters in Judicial Integrity

Court reporters serve as the official record-keepers of legal proceedings, ensuring that every word spoken in court is accurately documented. This precise recordkeeping is essential to maintaining judicial integrity, as it provides an unalterable account of courtroom interactions. In an era where misinformation and legal challenges are prevalent, these professionals ensure that the judicial system remains accountable to the law and to the public.

Warner emphasized that trust in the judiciary is built upon the foundation of accurate and transparent recordkeeping. “People trust that our courts are fair because we keep a record with integrity,” he stated. This integrity ensures that appeals, legal reviews, and historical records remain uncontested and verifiable.

Addressing the Surge in Litigation

The senator acknowledged an anticipated surge in federal litigation over the next few years, reinforcing the necessity of skilled court reporters to keep up with increasing demands. “Over the course of the next few years, I expect you will see unprecedented levels of litigation at the federal level,” Warner warned. This statement underscores the growing need for more trained stenographers, captioners, and legal videographers who can ensure proceedings remain transparent and accessible.

NCRA Executive Director Dave Wenhold echoed these sentiments, pointing out that the legal system is facing challenges that demand stronger safeguards. Advocating for the Research and Oversight of Potential AI in Courts Act of 2025, Wenhold highlighted the potential threats emerging technologies pose to court reporting and the necessity of legislative protections.

Judicial Oversight: Ensuring Integrity

Beyond their technical role, court reporters also function as a form of judicial oversight, reinforcing ethical standards within courtrooms. Their verbatim transcripts prevent misinterpretations, ensuring that judicial decisions are based on accurate information. Additionally, these records serve as vital tools in appeals, offering an unaltered recounting of past proceedings.

Court reporters’ impartiality ensures that no party in a legal dispute can manipulate records for personal or political gain. Unlike artificial intelligence or automated transcription services, human stenographers capture nuances, tone, and context, which are crucial elements in legal interpretation.

Additionally, judicial oversight ensures that judges or courts cannot order alterations or redactions of court records to protect themselves or others from legal scrutiny. In cases of judicial negligence or misconduct, such as the Waukesha, WI Christmas massacre case on November 21, 2021, the integrity of court records becomes even more critical. When courts rely on electronic recording systems, there is a heightened risk that essential records may be lost, manipulated, experience technical issues, or are deleted—especially when a court itself is implicated in misconduct. The presence of certified court reporters provides a crucial safeguard against such risks, ensuring that legal proceedings remain transparent and untainted by external influence.

The Threats Facing Judicial Recordkeeping

Despite their importance, court reporters face numerous challenges, including technological disruptions and staffing shortages. As AI-driven transcription tools become more prevalent, concerns have emerged regarding their accuracy and reliability. Unlike human court reporters, AI struggles with accents, dialects, and complex legal terminology, raising the risk of misinterpretations in court transcripts.

Moreover, many court systems are experiencing a shortage of qualified stenographers, which can lead to delays in case proceedings. Addressing this issue, Warner’s recognition of court reporters serves as a call to action to invest in and support these professionals.

The Future of Court Reporting: Legislative Action

To combat these threats, legislative efforts such as the Research and Oversight of Potential AI in Courts Act of 2025 aim to safeguard the integrity of legal records. This bill seeks to establish guidelines for the use of AI in legal transcription while reinforcing the need for human oversight in judicial proceedings.

“The back door of America’s judicial system is hanging wide open right now,” Wenhold warned. “And this legislation doesn’t just shut the door; it turns the deadbolt.” The passage of this bill would be a significant step in ensuring that technological advancements support rather than undermine judicial integrity.

Conclusion

Court reporters are the unsung heroes of the American judicial system, ensuring transparency, accuracy, integrity, and fairness in every legal proceeding. As Senator Warner highlighted in his address, the coming years will put legal institutions to the test, making the role of court reporters more essential than ever. With increasing litigation, emerging threats from AI, and a growing demand for legal accountability, these professionals stand as a crucial safeguard against judicial corruption and misinformation.

As legislative efforts seek to reinforce the security of legal transcripts, continued support for court reporters will be essential in preserving the foundation of justice in America. With their unwavering dedication, court reporters ensure that trust in the judiciary remains steadfast, making them indispensable to the rule of law.

Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

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  1. Pingback: He Who Controls the Record, Controls Reality – Why Court Reporters Are the Last Line of Defense – STENOIMPERIUM

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