CourtRecordIntegrity – STENOIMPERIUM

When the Record Goes Missing – Digital Recording, Judicial Discretion, and the Fragility of the Official Court Record

As courts increasingly replace stenographic reporters with digital recording systems, the promise of efficiency collides with a harder truth: a recording is not the same as a reliable record. When equipment fails, speakers overlap, or entire proceedings go unrecorded, there is no safety net. The cost savings vanish quickly—leaving judges, attorneys, and litigants to reckon with what was lost.