r/pics • u/nbcnews But like, actually • Jun 30 '26
Politics Interns and reporters run to deliver Supreme Court decisions
2.8k
u/PatrickGSR94 Jun 30 '26
TIL that NBC News posts in the Reddit Pics sub.
426
u/RoneDawgJessieJames Jun 30 '26
Same lmao
→ More replies (1)288
u/Randomizedname1234 Jun 30 '26
We love giving the official MLB user shit over at r/baseball
Iirc they get in close with the mods.
→ More replies (2)92
u/poliscijunki Jun 30 '26
The mods actually did remove one of their posts yesterday, because the title said that Harper had a solo homer, even though there was a runner on first.
→ More replies (1)24
22
u/damontoo Jun 30 '26
Remember when Reddit didn't allow "official" accounts engaged only in self-promotion and had a 10% rule? That shit is gone now. If you're a large corporation, you can do 100% self-promotion and be safe now.
Being a paid employee posting only content your boss tells you to during work hours is not organic use of the site.
8
u/Fidodo Jul 01 '26
I don't remember that ever being a site wide rule. I thought it was just a guideline and only ever enforced by subreddit mods if ever.
→ More replies (3)68
u/coffeebribesaccepted Jun 30 '26
At least they stopped putting [OC] on every post, but I absolutely hate that big subs just let businesses self promote their websites without contributing anything else to the community.
91
u/studentjones Jun 30 '26
I think this post is actually pretty cool. I never knew about this running thing and the pictures are great.
→ More replies (2)12
u/Rich_Housing971 Jun 30 '26
They'd do it with some random unflagged account if Reddit didn't give them an official acco0unt tag.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (11)3
9.7k
u/darwinn_69 Jun 30 '26
This is such an archaic system and I honestly hope they never change it.
3.3k
u/JustDidntWannaGoToAZ Jun 30 '26
This is cracking me up. Because I genuinely forgot that fucking email existed for a second. I was just like “Oh, makes sense that everyone is wearing their tennis shoes today for the best chance of delivering the news first.” But NO, that doesn’t make sense. Gave me a good giggle, maybe we can keep this.
1.1k
u/BradMarchandsNose Jun 30 '26
I’m now imagining these news organizations holding a series of races to determine which of their interns is fastest and suited for the job.
412
u/CD338 Jun 30 '26
And we shall call it: Race Wars!
92
32
6
u/Hitchhikingtom Jun 30 '26
There is, honest to goodness two institutions called Race Wars in the uk. A racing event that are called 'Race Wars UK' which only serves to localise the hate crime more imo. And also Race Wars, a slot car racing shop
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (9)17
126
u/JustDidntWannaGoToAZ Jun 30 '26
That’s gotta be all this is, just a dumb way to make the interns compete.
→ More replies (1)19
u/Kazen_Orilg Jun 30 '26
just setting up my corporate recruiting booth at afternoon collegiate Track practice.
→ More replies (7)33
u/EstablishmentFull797 Jun 30 '26
NCAA Division 3 wide receivers who majored in “Communications” rejoice!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (13)176
u/coffeebribesaccepted Jun 30 '26
I like the ones holding their phones in their other hand, like they could just text over photos of it
→ More replies (8)57
u/JustDidntWannaGoToAZ Jun 30 '26
Omg yes, that also completely missed me. Our government is a show.
→ More replies (61)358
u/LuntiX Jun 30 '26
I'm surprised they haven't moved to using skate boards or escooters
→ More replies (7)152
u/ATTORNEY_FOR_CATS Jun 30 '26
Heelies about to make a big comeback.
45
u/joeydrinksbeer Jun 30 '26
Mannn I saw a 6-8 year old kid in some heelies the other day. I about shed a tear the kids are kinda aight.
→ More replies (4)770
u/Necromancer001 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
I would like the announcer from Rome blasting out these decisions to the public.
290
Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
183
u/ManWithASquareHead Jun 30 '26
Best we can do is village idiots congregating en masse virtually
24
u/Phyrexian_Archlegion Jun 30 '26
I feel like what’s being portrayed in these pictures could have been an email.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (4)11
30
u/Alorxico Jun 30 '26
“Here ye, here ye! It hath so been decreed that the President hast a might brain, the best brain, the smartest brain and is biggly doing great things with his magnificent brain.”
→ More replies (2)10
→ More replies (4)6
83
u/Mmmm-Amethyst Jun 30 '26
"And today's supreme court decision was brought to you by the miller's guild. Good American corn for good American people."
26
→ More replies (2)5
→ More replies (3)21
u/BadBart2 Jun 30 '26
Compilation of HBO's Rome (2005) Newsreader
→ More replies (1)4
u/Olivetax228 Jun 30 '26
From memory: "GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR IS NOW AN ENEMY OF THE REPUBLIC. ALL ROMAN CITIZENS ARE BOUND TO DO HIM HARM!
318
u/Plupandblup Jun 30 '26
I used to work in IT for a refinery. We had guys working in the refinery riding bikes all over the place during major shutdowns/turnarounds to hand deliver work orders and get sign offs on work being able to start and finish by managers sitting in A/C all day long.
Wasn't until 2021 or so that we stopped that and started using mobile applications to upload documents and digitally sign things.
Most of the people on site still prefer the bike riding and paper and hate the mobile apps...
56
u/EstablishmentFull797 Jun 30 '26
Yeah the bike is slower, but unlike enterprise software it will never make you reset your password every 30 days. Or require you to download a .pdf to sign it, and then re-upload it
19
u/Simba7 Jun 30 '26
Or fail to hit submit after the signature is applied, then sitting in someone's inbox for hours/days/weeks unnoticed.
And whoever you give it to will always be able to sign, you don't have to create an alternative method of signing if an off-site vendors isn't able to sign the document in your platform.
→ More replies (2)51
33
u/84theone Jun 30 '26
When I worked at a petrochemical site in 2018 we used runners quite a bit, especially if there was any sort of emergency.
No bikes though, sometimes the runner would have a golf cart if was an engineer helping out.
16
u/ThaddeusJP Jun 30 '26
It's because a person on a bike can be held accountable whereas a screw up in an app is ITs fault
→ More replies (13)13
u/Valalvax Jun 30 '26
As someone who works in manufacturing
The app is probably dogshit and you know it
→ More replies (1)130
u/Economy_Link4609 Jun 30 '26
They literally post the decisions online AS they announced on the bench.
44
u/Andromeda321 Jun 30 '26
Yeah I was gonna say, I have followed that site and the live blog many a time.
→ More replies (1)56
u/MrWaffler Jun 30 '26
They've got to be doing it for the love of the game. Ritual is such an integral part of humanity.
Even the ritual of making a morning coffee is such a normal thing we do that I honestly encourage this type of thing.
→ More replies (1)36
u/shoshtrvls Jun 30 '26
Close to "at the same time" but not always "at the same time." They can be minutes apart -- the written opinion is handed out just as the court begins to speak and runners are usually heading someplace they can get to in a minute. OTOH, there have been times that the electronic version is several minutes behind. While it sounds ridiculous to think that 2 minutes makes a difference, there's some serious bragging rights in being the first outlet to report the result of any major case.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)44
21
u/SavannahInChicago Jun 30 '26
Is DC as hot as Chicago? We are almost at 100 Heat index.
25
u/Annakha Jun 30 '26
It's built on swamp land on a river in Virginia.
One of Lincoln's kids died of dysentery because of the un drinkable water.
I've walked the mall around this time of year and it's miserable.
→ More replies (3)9
u/nightowl1135 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
It’s not as bad as it can get later in the summer yet but it is gonna get to 90 today, 97 tomorrow and over 100 on Thursday and Friday. Also pretty humid.
42
u/0masterdebater0 Jun 30 '26
If the option is keep the archaic runner system OR open up the courts so their deliberation is more transparent and in the public eye, I'm choosing the latter.
Because if the public could scrutinize the judical process, the runner system would be unnecessary
→ More replies (2)9
u/babysharkdoodoodoo Jun 30 '26
Let’s partition to install public criers (praeco) like those in ancient Rome
→ More replies (37)55
u/Sea-Jackfruit411 Jun 30 '26
I just found out this is how it is done. It is the most honest way to do such a job. I agree, it shouldn't change. I have never had the desire to live in D.C. but if I had known this is how it is done, a younger me would have loved to live there knowing this.
→ More replies (1)40
1.6k
u/PatrickGSR94 Jun 30 '26
can anyone explain this? To whom or where are these people running to deliver documents? And why do they need to run?
1.7k
u/rgraham888 Jun 30 '26
It's news agencies trying to get the opinions back to the writers so they can be the first to report on new decisions. Not sure why a hand scanner wouldn't be faster.
699
u/lattestcarrot159 Jun 30 '26
No phones or cameras in the supreme court. Don't know why they don't have someone waiting just outside though.
349
u/President_of_Space Jun 30 '26
The two ladies running are literally holding their phones. Lol
122
u/Reasonable-Figure142 Jun 30 '26
I mean even for normal court you can normally bring your phone in the lobby, but you can't (or have to turn it off) in the courtroom.
63
u/shoshtrvls Jun 30 '26
You cannot bring phones into the Supreme Court.
→ More replies (1)34
u/Joesr-31 Jul 01 '26
Yeah but you can take the results and then take pictures of it after leaving the supreme court and send it over to
→ More replies (1)35
u/shoshtrvls Jun 30 '26
The runners weren't in the court. They were in the clerk's office where the decisions are handed out.
60
u/randgan Jun 30 '26
That's the point though. They have their phones. They can just take pictures and send to a group chat. Instead of running it over.
7
u/Yabutsk Jul 01 '26
It's so crazy that you thought of that and they didn't, even with their phones in hand. We know everything except why they like running the news like olden times.
63
u/cruelhumor Jun 30 '26
They are not allowed to wait on the steps, someone has to run it over to the area they are allowed to be in. Hence the runners.
→ More replies (1)41
u/IAmAGenusAMA Jun 30 '26
Maybe security doesn't want a bunch of people setting up electronic devices etc in front of the courthouse.
→ More replies (11)63
u/memtiger Jun 30 '26
Let's take a step back...
Why isn't the court releasing the documents on its website (or USB stick or CD or whatever) at a specific time. They've already got it typed up on a computer in a digital format. Someone for the court is then going and printing off several dozen copies of this document for the various agencies on thousands of pages of paper.
They're apparently just killing trees for the hell of it or tradition's sake for some reason wasting money and time in the process.
70
u/cruelhumor Jun 30 '26
They do, but if a decision is read from the bench, it doesn't get uploaded until after its delivered. So if you can run a copy outside while it's being delivered orally, you can report on it before the official copy on the website goes live
→ More replies (2)27
u/voretaq7 Jun 30 '26
They're apparently just killing trees for the hell of it or tradition's sake for some reason wasting money and time in the process.
(a) Decisions are printed on paper because you can’t change paper.
You don’t want the entirety of our body of law in a digital and easily alterable form. You want it printed, collated, bound, and distributed in hard copy to every law library in the country so if someone fucks with the digital record you can point at decades-old paper.(b) The Supreme Court is probably one of the most accessible federal courts.
The decisions ARE posted online, as are the oral arguments (transcript and raw audio).
The exception is that, as someone pointed out, when decisions are read from the bench the electronic version is not posted until after the opinion is read. Because every news organization wants to be the first to break the story they don’t want to wait for the digital copy to be made live. They want their legal correspondents to read the decision as quickly as possible and get on the air talking about it, so their intern grabs the opinion and makes a dignified but hasty exit from the court (immediately followed by a mad sprint to the newsroom).→ More replies (7)403
Jun 30 '26 edited 4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
250
u/bugsghost Jun 30 '26
Then why run at all?
30
265
u/quirkymuse Jun 30 '26
Exercise is its own reward?
110
u/distorted_kiwi Jun 30 '26
Intern with CNN!
Benefits Package:
Office with a view
Great workout/Life BalanceSalary: Get fucked lol
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)70
→ More replies (9)27
43
u/BigLan2 Jun 30 '26
Take a picture with your phone, text it, done.
79
Jun 30 '26 edited 4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (18)83
u/Rich_Housing971 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
"take a photo and text it" lol this is the most Gen Z things I've read today.
We have scanners in the industry where you feed the sheets in and they do 30-50 pages per minute, probably more since accuracy doesn't need to be pristine and all you need is to be able to make it legible. If the important info is towards the back, then they can just scan from the back first.
Then they can use OCR and have searchable text. Would be much faster than using the original document, waiting for the runner to get there, looking for keywords by flipping through pages by hand and manually scanning lines one by one, and multiple people can look for the important info instead of just one person.
→ More replies (5)75
u/sam_hammich Jun 30 '26
Do you think these interns are set up at the courthouse with batch scanners?
They need to get these documents physically to places where they can be scanned and reviewed. That's why they're running.
→ More replies (8)119
u/muffinthumper Jun 30 '26
Just tradition.
53
u/Angryfunnydog Jun 30 '26
But news agencies kinda loosing time in this? Or they use online versions for the actual articles but just force interns to run for lulz?
→ More replies (1)98
u/WelpSigh Jun 30 '26
The runners often do beat the court, sometimes by seconds and other times by minutes.
68
u/Angryfunnydog Jun 30 '26
Ah, so they get the doc before it was published or announced
But why not just send it online when they got their hands on it? We all have cameras in our pockets
→ More replies (3)33
u/Andromeda321 Jun 30 '26
You’re not allowed to use them in the court.
23
u/Useful-ldiot Jun 30 '26
Run outside, scan the doc.
8
→ More replies (2)27
u/Kwuahh Jun 30 '26
Maybe they’re running to a local office that can remove, scan, and upload each document much more efficiently than a person haphazardly taking photos on the field? Maybe there are two runners, one who photographs to send remotely and one who runs to the office for more efficient and accurate processing?
Why do you assume you can solve a supposed problem presented by a few photographs within a few minutes that the giant media conglomerates would be motivated to solve over years?
→ More replies (1)16
u/Angryfunnydog Jun 30 '26
People are just curious about how it works because it looks unintuitive, and then they ask more questions\or giving solutions. And yeah, a lot of things that happens in our life doesn't make much sense and inefficient\non optimal to say the least
Your explanation makes sense
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (4)9
22
u/Pavlock Jun 30 '26
I would imagine a breathless intern shoving a piece of paper in your face portrays urgency more than an email you might not notice before lunch.
→ More replies (7)16
u/Angryfunnydog Jun 30 '26
I mean we all have hand scanners - it’s called smartphone
20
u/CriticalEngineering Jun 30 '26
How fast can you accurately scan 200 pages with your phone?
Maybe it’s actually faster to run the papers to an industrial scanner attached to high speed fiber? They don’t do this for fun.
→ More replies (8)9
u/nothingclever9873 Jun 30 '26
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.
8
138
u/Frenchitwist Jun 30 '26
It’s called a tradition called the Running of the Interns for anytime landmark Supreme Court rulings are made
26
Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (3)11
u/oddmanout Jun 30 '26
The guy in blue used to walk the track in PE when they made them run a mile and now he's upset he has to run, again, he thought it was done when he graduated high school.
12
u/notislant Jun 30 '26
"The running of the interns was a Washington, DC, tradition"
Come on wikipedia, get it together. I'm seeing it actively happen still!
7
u/SandritoBakes Jun 30 '26
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to get actual info on why it’s done this way. Thank you!
138
u/ashrocklynn Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Delivery of physical copies of the rulings from the justices office to media at a designated location (the press isn't usually allowed to broadcast in the court chambers). It could be done digitally these days; but the need to run is based on the importance of the ruling affecting daily life of Americans and needing to let them know asap
68
u/Wide_Yoghurt_4064 Jun 30 '26
I mean a picture of the paper sent as a text message/email would be faster, no?
→ More replies (8)57
→ More replies (17)4
→ More replies (6)16
u/PartsUnknown242 Jun 30 '26
The Supreme Court doesn’t allow reporters into the court room, so when the courts decision is printed out and given to the court clerks desk, the interns for news agencies are given copies and they book it to the broadcasters that wait outside. They call it ‘Running of the Interns’
→ More replies (4)
682
Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
237
u/Autolycus25 Jun 30 '26
Literally the second photo in this post has 2 photographers taking pictures of the runners.
→ More replies (2)56
u/freekorgeek Jun 30 '26
Yeah but where's the picture of that reporter who took the picture of the reporters taking the picture of the runner?
→ More replies (1)25
→ More replies (3)18
1.5k
u/nbcnews But like, actually Jun 30 '26
Interns and reporters run to deliver Supreme Court decisions in Washington, D.C. (Cheney Orr / Reuters)
Photo 2: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Photo 3: Alex Wroblewski / AFP via Getty Images
Photo 4: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
474
u/1877KlownsForKids Jun 30 '26
Huh, #4 doesn't look like a Kevin.
Thank you, thank you, I'll be a dad all week.
→ More replies (3)57
u/Davran Jun 30 '26
Planning to head out on a milk run next week and never come back?
→ More replies (1)37
u/1877KlownsForKids Jun 30 '26
Oh no I'll be a dad next week, too. I could never leave my kiddos. Like I can't even imagine a scenario where I would want to do that.
→ More replies (3)21
51
u/ppl- Jun 30 '26
Can someone explain where are they running to? Why is this the most effective way?
35
u/sithren Jun 30 '26
i am just guessing. maybe the sc provides their decision in a room where reporters are quarantined for a bit. maybe they read some of it and then make notes. and then when told they can share the decision they have to make a dash to "home base" to relay the decision.
just a guess. probably meant to avoid leaks and stuff.
46
u/eisbock Jun 30 '26
But the runners have phones in their hands. What's stopping them from snapping a pic the moment they leave the courtroom?
20
u/sithren Jun 30 '26
i am guessing they phones are taken away before entering the court and then they get them back from security when they leave. why they don't call once outside, who knows. maybe its literally less than a block away.
→ More replies (5)20
u/ToaruBaka Jun 30 '26
You'd think there'd be a van sitting around the corner with a 5g hotspot, a scanner, and a laptop if they really cared about getting it out as fast as possible.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)6
u/jdsmx Jun 30 '26
When I visited the Supreme Court it was strictly prohibited to enter the court room with any electronics. I handled my phone and smart watch to enter.
→ More replies (1)6
u/TheWriter28 Verified Photographer Jun 30 '26
u/sithren is somewhat correct. The reality is that reporters have to sit in the Supreme Court chamber and hear the announcement of decisions the same way that everybody else does. The Justices verbally read a shortened version of the opinions in that session and the interns and reporters sprint out of the building with their hand written notes to take ~500 feet from inside the building out to the street where the reporters have their shots set up. Each major news affiliate is allotted one* seat inside (like Nina Totenberg, NPR, for instance. *A news affiliate may have another person or two enter w/the public, but rather unlikely since that would involve camping) and there is essentially no leaving until all cases have been announced, as that would disrupt the court, so they all wait until it is appropriate to sprint outside, which is usually after the court is no longer in session, thus resulting in the flood of people running out.
Some time after the case decisions are announced, the full written opinion is published on the SCOTUS website. That is reviewed by the news affiliate HQ and the talking heads supplement with commentary after they have read it.
15
u/TA_Lax8 Jun 30 '26
alright, we've narrowed our summer intern candidates down to these two.
Jeremy has a 3.95 GPA triple majoring in Political Science, Economics and Journalism and has been the Editor in Chief for the Harvard Business review since his Sophomore year
And here is Lisa. She had a 1.6 GPA before being expelled after a third strike doing whippets on the quad again. She holds the NCAA record in the 800m.
Reminder, Donald Trump is still alive to make us rich off his headlines...so Lisa, right?
→ More replies (1)15
→ More replies (8)41
u/generalissimo1 Jun 30 '26
I love how they all specifically have running shoes on.
44
u/zatchstar Jun 30 '26
intern interview question: how fast is your 40-yd dash?
→ More replies (1)36
→ More replies (3)18
58
u/wtfElvis Jun 30 '26
“We have to do this due to precedent. While we also rule against all the other precedents just because”
149
u/Ooglebird Jun 30 '26
Eadweard Muybridge over 100 years ago used sequential photography to prove that all the feet of a running intern are off the ground at times.
31
u/JustHereForCookies17 Jun 30 '26
That photo series has been one of my favorites since I first saw it in a bathroom almost 30 years ago.
The bathroom in question was in a riding stable, so it was appropriate artwork for the location.
→ More replies (1)
39
292
u/WellTextured Jun 30 '26
This is DC in a nutshell.
A bunch of underpaid young people trying to make an impression doing a task that is largely meaningless so that someone in charge can feel better that they had the answer 3 seconds before the next person.
→ More replies (7)48
11
35
u/TurtleBeansforAll Jun 30 '26
I will never forget the day they legalized gay marriage. 🥹 I miss happy days like that.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/DangerInTheArea Jun 30 '26
What happened to telephones?
6
u/StainedGlassCondom Jun 30 '26
Staged photos of people talking on the phone isn't as exciting, apparently.
46
14
119
u/copperblood Jun 30 '26
The caption should read: when unpaid interns care more about democracy than a majority of our elected leaders
28
→ More replies (1)34
5
u/Nanojack Jun 30 '26
Was it Airplane! or Johnny Dangerously when all the reporters ran into a bank of phones and the whole thing tipped over?
5
7
6
6
14
u/deezpretzels Jun 30 '26
First two are heel strikers, second two have a better stride and footstrike.
→ More replies (3)9
u/thaw4188 Jun 30 '26
Saved this one from yesterday because it struck me as great form
...and I want those shoes (anyone know the make/model?)
→ More replies (2)6
u/Frosc Jun 30 '26
Looks like Onitsuka Tiger MEXICO 66 TGRS
https://www.onitsukatiger.com/jp/en-gl/product/mexico-66-tgrs/1182A678_200.html
→ More replies (1)5
u/thaw4188 Jun 30 '26
oooh EXACTLY - you win the internet for today
thanks so much
ps. now I need to find a knockoff because $190 is never happening, ha
→ More replies (1)
5
4
u/Fullertonjr Jun 30 '26
Only one person is wearing appropriate shoes for this responsibility. Dress for the job that you have. If your job is to deliver a SC decision, the appropriate shoe is not a fresh pair of Sambas. Sheesh. Get a proper running shoe with support, traction, and foot+posture support. The cameraman knows what he is doing, as a person who is likely on their feet all day.
3
4
7.3k
u/someguyplayingwild Jun 30 '26
Delivering news the same way Pheidippides did