- The public has been welcomed back into the courtroom since October 2022, but the Court has continued to offer an audio feed (begun during the pandemic) as well. As convenient as this is, I still encourage you to attend in person if you can, at least once.
To listen in live
- The supremecourt.gov homepage or the Court’s audio page seems to be the best for listening in live. I’ve noticed that if I try to launch the audio early, I get an error right around 9:59; just refresh the page then.
- Alternatively, C-SPAN offers a reliable stream. If you’re mobile, the C-SPAN Radio app is the best option; it doesn’t stream all arguments but will cover the most high-profile cases of general interest. Finally, Scotusblog.org occasionally hosts a live blog, and their twitter typically follows the major arguments.
The session begins at 10am Eastern, but there may be significant “business” (such as swearing in new members) before the arguments begin and the audio will be silent until then. Each case is formally scheduled for one hour (thirty minutes per side) but the relatively new format provides for a round of questioning after each arguing counsel has used her allotted time. That round of questioning can last a few minutes or a half hour or even longer. Therefore, the second argument often does not start until significantly later than 11:00.
Later access
Apart from live streaming, there are various ways to take in the arguments after they are completed.
From the Court’s website, you can get transcripts the same day as the arguments and the audio is released a bit later. (Audio is still officially released the Friday after arguments, but it’s been made available much more quickly in the past year or so).
In addition, on Oyez you can get transcript-synchronized audio (the transcript scrolls and highlights automatically as you listen). It’s a great service. Click the case name then click the link in the left column. It takes a little while for these to be available after the audio release, but they seem to be fairly quick.
Historical note
In March 2020, the Court postponed oral arguments due to the pandemic, noting that doing so was “not unprecedented. The Court postponed scheduled arguments for October 1918 in response to the Spanish flu epidemic. The Court also shortened its argument calendars in August 1793 and August 1798 in response to yellow fever outbreaks.” Two months later, we had unprecedented arguments — via telephone, following a different model, and available to the public to listen in live.
Arguing counsel, Justices, and Court personnel returned to the courtroom in February 2022, but it remained closed to the press, other members of the bar, and the public. This was a notable improvement over the telephone arguments — Scotusblog had an interesting symposium and I fully agree with Lyle Dennison’s critique of the way arguments had been conducted by phone, although others at that symposium feel differently. The October 22-23 term was entirely in this format.
In September 2022, the Court announced that it would resume access for the public. We have had both in-person and online access ever since.