Attending Arguments

• The public was welcomed back into the courtroom at the start of last term (Oct 2022), but the Court will continue to offer an audio feed as well. For those options, see “online access”.

Attending oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court is a singular experience, promising an opportunity to witness some of the finest advocacy and informed public debate on critical social issues.  I strongly encourage my students to take advantage of this opportunity while living in Washington.  However, some Supreme Court cases will involve rather arcane legal issues, so attending those arguments will be a less desirable experience for the observer who is not well versed in that area of law and the specific facts of the case.  Scotusblog does an excellent job of surveying all upcoming cases, so on the front page, I limit myself to select cases that I particularly want to recommend to my current and former students

The Supreme Court returns from summer recess on the first Monday in October each year, and generally sits until early summer. They do not hear arguments every day, but all oral arguments are open to the public.

The US Supreme Court is located at 1 First Street, NE, which is directly opposite the Capitol Building.  It is a short walk from the Capitol South Metro stop on the orange and blue lines.

On days when the Court is hearing oral arguments, there typically are two cases with a one-hour time slot for each, at 10:00 and 11:00. On rare occasions, there will be a third argument, which starts after the lunch break.  Equally rarely, a scheduling issue may result in only one case being heard that day.

Seating is quite limited. The first fifty people can be reasonably assured that they’ll get in (although sometimes the number is closer to 40). After that, it can depend on that day’s special arrangements. There used to be an option to pass through for a few minutes but when the Court reopened to the public, it stated that “the three-minute line is temporarily suspended.”

So how early do you need to get there?

This remains hard to answer because the the term that began in October 2022 was the first in history when it was possible to either attend in person or listen online live. Before Covid, public access to arguments hadn’t been suspended since 1918 (for the Spanish Flu), when teleconferencing hadn’t been invented.

So with a data set of one term [EDIT: and see a post on First Monday 2023] in which it was possible to listen online or attend in person, I’m drawing on reports from my students and blog visitors who were good enough to tell me their experiences. It certainly seems that the lines are much more reasonable than they were pre-pandemic, when it was not uncommon in major cases that the last person to get in for arguments started waiting in line in the morning of the day before. But the lines are still forming early and they could start forming even earlier for high-profile cases!

Arriving by 5am seems to be about right for cases with a “normal” level of interest; you’ll want to be there by 3am if not earlier for very high-profile cases in order to feel secure. For instance, a student got in line for last year’s Voting Rights Act arguments at 4:45 and got in but only a few people behind her made it. Someone else went to the Jack Daniel’s / Bad Spaniels argument (a fun one but not one that had organized groups attending) and was among the first when he arrived at 4:45am. Despite them both making it in, my advice: what you really don’t want is to get there at 4:45am and still not make it! Much better to get there as early as you can manage, and not be worried about that. So 5am is probably good for most cases, but I wouldn’t push it for the more politicized cases.

At some point, the Supreme Court Police will hand out numbered cards, which will allow you to step away for a restroom or coffee break and return without either loosing your place or looking like you’re trying to cut. Don’t step away for too long, since you’ll need to be there when the line is moved inside — and the timing of that can vary (although usually will be after 7:30, when the building opens). When the cards get handed out also varies a bit.

The above is for argument days; for info on lines for decision days, see this post. 

Other info

Feel free to bring reading materials for the wait, but know that most anything you bring cannot come into the courtroom. There is a free check room and lockers (which used to require a quarter but are now free, too).

If you want to hear the argument in either morning case, you should plan to sit through both. Although a few people leave after the first argument and others will be able to take their seats, this small number of seats will be filled by people who were in line from early that morning.  If the case that interests you is heard first, I suggest that you sit through the next one anyway — you waited in line for hours, and might as well get the experience of hearing a second case while you are there.

You should follow the links I have provided or on scotusblog so you can read a news account or legal blog write-up, and perhaps some key documents filed in the case.  You of course will not have time to read all the briefs, but at least glance at some of these resources to get a feel for the case and the types of arguments that are being made by each side.  This will help you to understand the issues and get as much as possible out of attending the arguments.  You should also take a look at this guide.

Enjoy – and let me know if you have any questions before or thoughts to share after you attend!

(If you want even more information before attending, see this page.)