William J. Hennessy Jr., a veteran sketch artist who gave Americans striking views from inside courtrooms during some of the nation’s most important legal dramas, died on Monday.
From the Supreme Court to high-profile criminal trials to the Senate chamber during President Donald Trump’s impeachment in 2020, Hennessy’s work allowed the public to picture history unfolding in places where cameras either aren’t allowed or are heavily restricted.
In many cases, his sketches are the only visual record of those proceedings.
Hennessy’s death was announced Wednesday by his son, John Paul Hennessy. He died Monday, on his 67th birthday.
“It’s a different way of recording something,” Hennessy, who worked independently and often sold his sketches to CNN, NBC, Fox and other major news organizations, told CNN in April. “It brings a uniqueness to it, that as much as I think many people would prefer to have a video or camera on it, what I do is actually as the questioning is taking place, I go from each justice, as each justice asks the next question, I go and sketch that exchange.”
Hennessy was a fixture at the Supreme Court during oral arguments, including the session in April in which the justices debated whether Trump should be entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution. But he was also a regular in courtrooms across the country.
See sketches by William J. Hennessy Jr.
Last year, Hennessy sketched the trial of several members of the Proud Boys accused of plotting to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. In 2020, CNN hired Hennessy to sketch the Senate floor during Trump’s first impeachment because the chamber’s cameras are controlled by the Senate. And a few years earlier, when then-Trump White House spokesman Sean Spicer barred TV cameras from the White House briefing room, Hennessy was there.
A Virginia native, Hennessy attended Rhode Island School of Design and was trained as a fine artist, according to a biography on his website.
TV cameras have never been permitted during the Supreme Court’s arguments and are mostly barred from federal court houses.
Hennessy was frequently spotted around courthouses wearing colorful ties, always tucked into a patterned button-down shirt as he worked.
His process, as observed by reporters in court, was to sketch the outlines of a courtroom scene on a large paper during the hearing. He would then often post up somewhere more pleasant around the courthouse to finish his work.
At times, he would draw other details of the hearing as insets on the same page. He would then photograph the illustration bit by bit, so news organizations could use separate images showing different views of the scene.
Often, judges would acknowledge his friendly presence in their courtrooms – letting him sit in an open jury box for a better view, or even shake his hand after a proceeding, as Judge Emmet Sullivan of the DC District Court once did to thank him for his work following a hearing during the first Trump administration years.
“Bill was the consummate professional. It was always a pleasure to see him in my courtroom,” Sullivan said, upon learning of Hennessy’s death.
Hennessy was often one of the earliest members of the court press corps to arrive before a newsworthy hearing and he got to know many of the reporters who covered major cases.
Hennessy is survived by his wife, seven children and 13 grandchildren, his family said.
“Some of the most incredible cases I’ve covered, the most memorable are not necessarily, you know, big headline grabbers, but just – the human drama involved, the courtroom and the events that take place in there are sometimes the most compelling things, and it’s hard to stay focused and not get caught up in the emotion of it,” Hennessy told PBS News in a 2009 interview.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.
