Court is NOT in Session
Those who watch Washington typically look to April as a major time, because oral arguments on a number of cases are typically held during the last week of the month, which is the last round of oral arguments for the court’s year. But the Court has now postponed hearings on the rest of the cases that were to be argued this term…and that means a number of high-profile cases will be undecided, perhaps for up to another year.
Among the cases delayed by COVID-19, a case that has immediate electoral implications dealing with the power of states to control the votes of those in the electoral college and another challenging a Trump Administration policy allowing exemptions from Obamacare to religious objectors.
Among the cases already postponed from last month, one involving attempts by a U.S. House committee and a New York grand jury to subpoena the President’s financial records.
The Court’s order suggests rescheduling some of those postponed cases before the end of the annual term, if the pandemic lessens. The door was also left open to “other alternatives” if in-person arguments cannot be held. That suggests electronic, distant communication…but the U.S. Supreme Court has hardly embraced change in the past, as evidenced by its hard and fast rules against cameras in the courtroom. Officials say regular business of the court, including discussions leading to decisions on cases already heard, continues; the Chief Justice operates from the Supreme Court building and others join remotely.
An article in POLITICO notes some are suggesting that if they can Zoom for regular work, they can Zoom for oral arguments. That’s hardly the same thing, but it is true that this crisis is leading to a full re-evaluation of how government and business operate.
A few months postponement will likely not cause problems. But as the saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied.
