In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment guarantees a right to a unanimous jury – but that defendants in state trials do not have such a right. Today, by a vote of 6-3, the justices reversed course, holding that the Sixth Amendment establishes a right to a unanimous jury that applies in… Read More

It has been one month since the Supreme Court announced on March 16 that, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, it would cancel its March argument session, which was slated to include the disputes over access to President Donald Trump’s financial records. On April 3, the justices announced that their April argument session, which had… Read More

Over 700,000 young adults who were brought to the United States without documentation have obtained protection from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. The Supreme Court sets aside approximately 50 seats at oral arguments for members of the general public. With 48 hours to go before the oral argument… Read More

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it will hear 10 oral arguments by telephone in May, in 13 cases that had previously been scheduled for argument in March and April but had been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a one-page press release, the justices indicated that argument dates over six days in… Read More

Long lines were a hallmark of high-profile oral arguments at the Supreme Court this term, in cases involving issues ranging from abortion to gun rights to employment protections for LGBT employees. Because the Supreme Court does not normally release the audio of its oral arguments until the end of the week, attending the oral argument… Read More

The Supreme Court issued orders this morning from the justices’ conference last week, which was once again held with the justices – all of whom, according to the court’s Public Information Office, are healthy – participating by phone. The justices did not add any new cases to their docket for next term, nor did they… Read More

Five days after President Donald Trump announced that federal guidance on social distancing would remain in effect until April 30, the Supreme Court announced that its April argument session, which had been scheduled to begin on April 20 and run through April 29, would be postponed. Today’s notice followed the justices’ decision, announced on March… Read More

On an average argument day at the Supreme Court, there are 439 seats in the courtroom. Of those 439, only 50 – that is, just over 11 percent – are specifically set aside for members of the general public. The other 389 are divided among several different groups. The “public line” The line to obtain… Read More

They are the legal version of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket: the cards (in colors that change from day to day) distributed in front of the Supreme Court that give the people holding them access to one of the seats set aside for the public at that morning’s oral arguments. With only 50 seats guaranteed for… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court continued its virtual operations, releasing orders from the justices’ private conference last week. Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for COVID-19, and in a departure from tradition, only Chief Justice John Roberts was in the justices’ conference room again last week, with the rest of the justices… Read More