It is time for court reporters to surrender to technology. The rest of civilization has discovered digital recording, searchable documents, cloud storage, and instantaneous electronic delivery. Courtrooms, meanwhile, remain fiercely committed to conducting business as though the fax machine were a dangerous new invention. Yes, replacing traditional stenographic reporting would require substantial changes to court rules across the country. That is not a reason to preserve an antiquated and unnecessarily expensive system. Rules exist to serve justice. Justice does not exist to protect a government-sponsored jobs program. Judges and court reporters have worked together for decades, and many judges understandably trust the reporters they know. But institutional friendship is not a legitimate reason to force litigants, defendants, attorneys, journalists, and members of the public to wait days or weeks and pay substantial fees for access to words spoken in a public courtroom. Modern techn...