Monday was patent day at the Supreme Court with arguments in two cases, Oil States Energy Services v. Greene’s Energy Group and SAS Institute Inc. v. Matal, related to a provision of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act aimed at keeping patent troll lawsuits out of court.
Wednesday’s argument, Carpenter v. United States, was a biggie on cellphone search warrants.
Courtroom sketching is a form of visual journalism or reportage drawing that is slowly dying out. Where once upon a time news organization each had their own artist covering a story, today a “pool” artist often sketches for all. It is a demanding and stressful discipline where the drawing is often done directly and under tight deadline.
After forty-five years of news sketching in courtrooms and congress I’m calling it quits. It’s been sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, almost always interesting. I’ve been lucky to work with some really great people. Don’t think I’ll miss it, but a little scared of not having a deadline.
While I won’t be sketching in court anymore, I may continue to post to this blog from time to time. Not sure what that might be. I’m about to start a new assignment documenting infrastructure and construction. Could be interesting.
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I especially love the 5th sketch of all the people and their cell phones :)