SCOTUSblog has a link to a chart released by C-SPAN that shows a history of all of their requests for same-day oral argument audio recordings. The first time audio recordings were released on an expedited schedule was for Bush v. Gore in 2000. I’ve been looking at the data with an eye towards gleaning a [...]

The Oyez Project has released audio from oral arguments for each of the cases from the last term.

When Chief Justice Roberts first sat on the Court on October 3, 2005 in IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, he spoke twenty-four times and his first question appeared on page 15 of the transcript. Following that question, he went back and forth with Carter Phillips, a man with whom the Chief Justice was already acquainted, for [...]

To sum up my views on the oral arguments today: we saw it coming. Justice Sotomayor lined up in exactly the position she was expected take and the same goes for each of the other eight Justices. In the end, it looks like her position will be a minority one. Solicitor General Kagan did a [...]

In a surprise move, the Supreme Court decided to hold a new round of oral arguments in Citizens United focused on whether or not to overrule Austin v. Michigan. It’s very, very rare for the Court to hold rearguments in a case although they will periodically request additional briefing on an issue. In Montejo v. [...]

Today was the final day for arguments during OT08 and the Court heard arguments in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder. You can find the transcript here. The arguments made were certainly very interesting. Justice Scalia, while criticizing the near-unanimity with which Congress passed the VRA extension, made this observation: You know, [...]

Andrew Frey’s biography on the Mayer Brown website says “He has argued 64 cases in the US Supreme Court, more than any other lawyer currently in private practice.” Well, Carter Phillips of Sidley Austin has been creeping up for some time now and finally beat him when he argued for the respondents in Gross v. [...]

C-SPAN is now streaming the audio from oral arguments on their website. Link here. My initial thoughts: the Justices are very, very skeptical of Section 5.

I was in Washington earlier today to watch oral arguments in Ricci v. DeStefano, the case in which I filed my own amicus brief. I arrived in Washington around 11:30pm and, after a friend told me that no one was in line at the Court, we got chinese food in Chinatown. We got food and [...]

Justices Breyer and Scalia went at it today during oral arguments in Horne v. Flores. Scene: Justice Breyer brings up a set of statistics from the record. JUSTICE SCALIA: Excuse me. I am not following this exchange because I don’t understand whether the — the statewide percentage is the statewide percentage of English learners or [...]