Supreme Court U.S. Supreme Court building on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

The U.S. Supreme Court, following steps taken by many federal and state courts in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the closure of courthouses, announced on Monday it will hear arguments by teleconference in select cases next month.

The justices will schedule six days of arguments—May 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13—with the justices and advocates participating remotely. The court also will provide a live audio feed of those arguments to the news media, according to the court's public information office.

The previously postponed cases that the justices have now selected include the battle over access to President Donald Trump's financial records by a state grand jury and two U.S. House investigating committees; a First Amendment challenge to two states' "faithless elector" laws, and the Trump administration's defense of its expanded "conscience exemption" for objectors to providing contraceptive health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

The court said it would announce later the assigned dates for the cases to be argued in May. The court picked 10 individual cases—some, such as the Trump financial records disputes and the Obamacare matter, have been consolidated—to hear in May.

The justices postponed the March and April oral arguments, which would have included 20 cases. The postponements, while rare, were not unprecedented. The justices did not hold arguments for October 1918 because of the Spanish flu epidemic. And the court shortened its argument calendars in August 1793 and August 1798 in response to yellow fever outbreaks.

The justices faced a range of options for dealing with the postponed argument sessions and the remainder of the term. Those options included deciding pending cases solely on the briefs submitted by the parties, moving some cases into the October 2020 term or extending the current term's usual ending time past late June with potential arguments in late summer or early fall. Some state supreme court courts have embraced video technology to hear arguments during the virus crisis.

Despite the deferred arguments, the justices have gone forward with other business. The court has been holding its regularly scheduled private conferences when the justices go through newly filed petitions and other matters. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. has presided over those meetings in the court's conference room while the other justices have participated remotely by teleconference. The court has been posting on its website orders containing grants and denials of review as well as decisions in already argued cases.

The court's iconic building in downtown Washington, across the street from the U.S. Capitol, remains closed to the public.

 

 

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