This chapter argues that the courts’ ability to shape the messaging on specific cases by engaging directly with the public through, inter alia, social media, live streams of court proceedings and open access to a fairly comprehensive database of judicial decisions has enhanced the judicial system’s responsiveness and strengthened its potential resilience against populist demands without curtailing its answerability to public criticism and mistrust. Furthermore, the chapter contends that this professionalising of yet another aspect of the Chinese judicial system has increased public trust in the courts without necessarily challenging the rule of law by pandering to populist pressure. At the same time, shielding the courts from public opinion on matters of justice and legal consciousness may nevertheless significantly impede legal innovation. As exemplified by the elevation of the Yu Huan decision to a Supreme People’s Court leading case, resisting public pressure may also mean that the courts rely on a specific interpretation of the law that may reflect the well-established consensus in judicial practice but is, from the perspective of legal academics, also a desideratum for urgent legal reform. The courts may therefore hide behind the security of a unitary application of law, thereby significantly impeding legal innovation.