In our digital age, it’s almost strange to see information printed on paper treated as breaking news, but because of the procedures surrounding Supreme Court rulings the plaza outside sometimes offers a view of what’s called the “Running of the Interns”.
The Vine clip above posted Friday by C-Span shows several interns sprinting madly with paper copies of the opinion regarding same-sex marriage becoming legal in all U.S. states.
So, why do the interns have to sprint? According to Wired.com, though recording devices aren’t allowed inside the Supreme Court, the opinions are uploaded online within a few minutes of the decision.
But, because the decision isn’t posted online right away and because a paper copy is made available to interns waiting in the public information office as the opinion is being announced and then read, a frantically dashing human with old-fashioned ink on paper remains the fastest way for network news agencies to receive the official opinion and break the news.
Check out the clip above for the latest “Running of the Interns,” and click here to read more about the tradition from Wired.
