Report: Trump lawsuit sets circuit court record

This was not a common viral video that you hear about online. It’s not like you get a sent a link from a friend saying, “Dude, check out the proceedings in the Ninth Circuit Court!” There were no top ten lists, or memes. There weren’t even any cats!

There were, however, plenty of listeners tuning in for the live stream of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday afternoon. As the Wall Street Journal put it, “the ratings were huge.” About 135,000 people tuned into the live Youtube feed, though one photo of the live feed shows that about 137,000 viewers were listening in to the stream at one point.

Related: Washington vs Trump case argued in front of three judges

Whatever ur politics, it’s amazing that 100,000+ Americans are listening online to a judicial proceeding.

Great civic education tool. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/UbARAvgNOY

— Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) February 8, 2017

@JusticeWillett @nycsouthpaw I caught this screeen grab as it ended… pic.twitter.com/mhxpzLrxAj

— Brian Brown (@9six7) February 8, 2017

Circuit court online record

The circuit court has been live streaming hearings and court cases for about two years. Tuesday’s hearing involved President Donald Trump’s travel ban. The court was only able to broadcast the audio from the telephone calls, as the participants were in separate states and were not filmed.

In the end, the online stream drew the largest audience the court has ever experienced, according to the Journal. To put that into perspective, the last hearing the court live streamed garnered just 50 people.

Attorneys representing Washington state and the Department of Justice made their arguments in front of three federal judges — via the telephone. The issue at stake is Washington’s lawsuit against President Trump and his executive order banning refugees and travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

A decision following the arguments is expected sometime this week.

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