Monday My Two Cents: Even Presidents and Judges are Not Immune to Hot Mic Moments!

Make sure your microphone and video is off before commenting about others on conference video!

A judge in Cook County, Illinois, recently learned the hard way to make sure all cameras, microphones, etc. are off before he makes comments about other parties in the courtroom.  Apparently after contentious oral arguments in his courtroom, he commented about a female attorney appearing in court: “Can you imagine waking up next to her every day?”.  The judge was overheard making this comment and others by everyone including the attorney in question.  On Monday, even President Biden got caught on a hot mic moment questing the maternity of a reporter.  (Note:  He was certainly not the first President to get caught on a hot mic moment!)

I remember the days of “BC” – “Before Cellphones”.  You had a heavy (comparatively to the smart phones we have today) hard phone in every room.  (You had to be careful that no one else was on another line in your home (and sometimes even your office). But you basically knew when the conversation was over once the heavy receiver landed in its cradle.  It was always a good rule of thumb that you made sure the phone was securely set and the line was disconnected so no one else could overhear something that maybe they should not.  Technology has not changed the underlying precaution – make sure you cannot be overheard by others.

When I got my first cellphone around the year 2000, I always made sure the phone connection was off when a call was finished.  Sometimes, I’d even double check for a dial tone (no different that when we had landlines with old phones).  As technology progressed, you now need to make sure the video conferencing program was off.  You need to check the mic and the video camera (maybe even disconnect the mic and video [especially with peepers now that people are working from home!]).  But you always need to make sure you are disconnected (or at least out of earshot of the public and the other party[ies]) before you say or do something on a hot mic that may get you in trouble with the bar!

MTC