The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued the calendar for its January argument session. The session will be a relatively quiet one, with only five hours of argument over four days. The justices will not hear argument on two days: Jan. 18, which is a federal holiday observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Jan. 20, when much of the District of Columbia will shut down for the presidential inauguration – and Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office across the street from the court.

The cases scheduled for argument during the January session are:

Pham v. Chavez (Jan. 11): Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1226, which generally gives noncitizens the right to a bond hearing, or instead 8 U.S.C. § 1231, which does not, applies to the detention of a noncitizen who is seeking withholding of removal after a prior removal order has been reinstated.

Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (Jan. 12): Whether the government can moot claims for nominal damages by changing an unconstitutional policy after a lawsuit challenging the policy has been filed.

AMG Capital Management v. Federal Trade Commission (Jan. 13): Whether a provision of the Federal Trade Commission Act that gives the FTC the power to go to district court to seek a permanent injunction to enforce Section 5 of the act, which bars “unfair methods of competition” and “unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” also gives the FTC the power to require defendants to return money that they obtained as a result of their illegal activities.

Federal Communications Commission v. Prometheus Radio Project & National Association of Broadcasters v. Prometheus Radio Project (consolidated for one hour of argument on Jan. 19): A challenge to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit that blocked changes by the FCC to media ownership rules, such as the commission’s repeal of restrictions on common ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market.

BP P.L.C. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (Jan. 19): Whether, in the city’s climate-change lawsuit against oil and gas companies, federal law allows a court of appeals to review any issue included in a district court’s order sending a case to state court when the move to state court is based on two statutes, or whether the court of appeals can only review the ground for removal itself.

When the Supreme Court begins its December oral argument session next Monday, it will hear arguments by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic. The court has not yet announced whether it will hear arguments by telephone in January.

Update (Wednesday, Nov. 25, 11:20 a.m.): The court announced later on Wednesday that the justices would hear oral argument by telephone during the January argument session. Live audio of the oral arguments will be available to the public through a media pool.

This post is also published on SCOTUSblog.