I went for oral arguments this morning and thought a few practical notes might be helpful:

• The 30th person in the public line got there at 6:40am. This was as far back as I liked to be when I was in the public line. Being back as far as 50th is probably okay, but you’ll be worried all morning as you see groups with special reserved seating arriving and taking up seats! Plus, the 50th person got there around 7:15 — so it’s a critical half-hour, and well worth the earlier wake-up. I wasn’t able to gage exactly how many people got in, but someone else was looking for a friend who was number 50–something and determined that they did not make it into the courtroom.
• This was First Monday, which used to draw a crowd. However, note that the case was an interesting issue but not terribly high-profile and did not bring out large organized groups.
• So I still would recommend aiming for 5am for most cases and 3am or earlier for very high-profile cases (like the gerrymandering case on Oct 11). [Edit: this prediction was spot on! The last people admitted from the public line for the Oct 11 gerrymandering case got in line at 3am, and the line began forming at midnight.] People near the front of the line today got there at 4:45am, so you won’t be alone!
• Arguments lasted until about 11:45 — even though there was only one case, and it was not one I would expect to be among the longer arguments. And this after they started promptly at 10:05 despite a couple of groups being sworn in. (At least one person left to use the restroom and was allowed to return.)
• For Supreme Court bar members: the bar section was not even close to being full. They did not even bring us inside until after 8am.