As I sit here in my office researching minutia regarding the (in?)ability of a court in a civil action to subpoena an out-of-state party witness to testify at trial, I have come across this nice tidbit from Chief Justice Warren:
The courtroom in Anglo-American jurisprudence is more than a location with seats for a judge, jury, witnesses, defendant, prosecutor, defense counsel and public observers; the setting that the courtroom provides is itself an important element in the constitutional conception of trial, contributing a dignity essential to the “integrity of the trial” process.
Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 561 (1965) (Warren, C. J., concurring)
Very nicely put; this statement encapsulates some of the solemnity of our rule of law, system of laws, and, indeed, structure of ordered liberty.
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Posted by john f. 
