I agree JSS didn't buy the threat drama. But she was, from the very beginning of the session, entirely sympathetic to the idea of closing the courtroom. That's the goalpost the DT kept moving. Closed to cameras, which she was entirely on board with- no video, period, became no overflow room either, because the DT kept pushing the limit, and because she had clearly already bought into the idea that protecting JA's "rights" trumped other considerations.
By her own admission, she had all of lunchtime to contemplate which was more important- the ridiculous and unprecedented demands of a manipulative murderer, or the First Amendment. She was quite straight forward in saying which she concluded was more important. I really think that distortion in her thinking is what led to her fear of being vulnerable on appeal.
