Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), left, speaking with Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), before the start of a confirmation hearing Nov. 13, 2018. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

A bipartisan pair of Senate Judiciary Committee veterans are calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to keep livestreaming its oral arguments when the justices return for their October term.

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Patrick Leahy, who have both previously chaired the committee, made the request to Chief Justice John Roberts in a letter Friday. They urged the court "to make permanent its recent efforts to increase transparency" after it began offering live audio feeds of remote oral arguments held during the COVID-19 pandemic in a historic first.

The senators argued the court has "clearly demonstrated its technical capability to provide prompt disclosure and transparency to the public. And from all indications, the business before the court was conducted in as dignified and professional a manner as is witnessed inside the courtroom under more normal circumstances."

The senators also pointed to polls showing widespread approval from Americans for the livestreams as well as positive media coverage of the arguments.

"Given this widespread support for access to our nation's highest court—and the countless contributions it makes towards the civics education of the American public—there is no reason why pro-transparency measures should end when the court returns to its normal functions," the senators wrote.

The letter concludes by urging Roberts to consider their request "and bear in mind all those who would benefit most—including our democracy itself—from these simple yet meaningful measures of transparency."

Court watchers largely described the telephonic and livestreamed oral arguments as a win, although not all were pleased with the argument format. There were a handful of snafus—Justice Sonia Sotomayor more than once forgot to unmute her line when questioning advocates, and the sound of a toilet flush in the background of one argument drew jokes and conspiracies over who was responsible.

Friday's letter is the latest push for the famously opaque court to adopt more transparency reforms. Lawmakers pushed legislation to bring cameras into the Supreme Court as Roberts presided over the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump earlier this year, which placed the chief justice in a highly visible role.

Another legislative package introduced earlier this year would also require the court to start offering live audio of oral arguments within two years of the bill becoming law.

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, who oversees the House appropriations subcommittee that funds the federal judiciary, in March similarly urged Roberts to start livestreaming arguments.

"The right to open court must keep pace with the times. You recently invited members of Congress to observe oral arguments at the court. I encourage you and your fellow justices to extend that invitation to the American people in ways that technology now make commonplace. The country, the Constitution, and the judiciary would be better for it," Quigley wrote.