Black robes or bathrobes? Virus alters high court traditions

WSLS News: "The coronavirus pandemic is forcing big changes at the tradition-bound Supreme Court. The justices will hear arguments this month by telephone for the first time since Alexander Graham Bell patented his invention in 1876."

U.S.: Lawyers get ready for first-ever Supreme Court oral arguments by phone

NBC News: "The Supreme Court’s announcement this week that it will hold oral arguments via teleconference for the first time in its history has a small group of America’s top attorneys prepping for the most important phone calls of their careers."

U.S. Supreme Court moves to limit paper filings

Bloomberg News: "The U.S. Supreme Court joined the chorus of federal courts across the country trying to reduce paper filings amid the coronavirus outbreak."

U.S. Supreme Court to hold May arguments by teleconference

Associated Press: "The Supreme Court said Monday it will hold arguments by teleconference in May in key cases, including President Donald Trump’s bid to shield his tax and other financial records."

U.S. Justice Stephen Breyer reflects on Supreme Court and life in isolation

CNN: "Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer recently plunked down before his computer camera for a lively Zoom chat with students at the United Nations International School, offering a glimpse of the justices' private negotiations against a canvas of how the law develops in America."

U.S. Supreme Court cancels oral arguments for rest of the term

NBC News: "The U.S. Supreme Court Friday said it will scrap the oral argument schedule for the rest of the term amid the coronavirus pandemic but left open the possibility that it might hear a few cases before the term ends in late June."

Paper filings, relics elsewhere, endure at SCOTUS through virus

Bloomberg News: "With the rest of Washington beginning to grind to a halt over coronavirus and social distancing not yet the norm, senior paralegal Cheryl Olson left Jenner & Block’s office March 19 for a four-mile round trip to deliver briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court—on foot."

U.S.: Spring cases in limbo without Supreme Court guidance on arguments during pandemic

CNN: "The Supreme Court has yet to announce alternatives for regular oral arguments in pending cases, even as President Donald Trump has declared the national distancing guidelines should continue through April."

U.S. Supreme Court postpones arguments because of virus outbreak

Associated Press: "The Supreme Court announced Monday that it is postponing arguments for late March and early April because of the coronavirus, including fights over subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s financial records."

U.S. Supreme Court’s closure could be first disease-related shuttering in a century

SCOTUSblog: "On Thursday, the Supreme Court announced that it would close its doors to the public 'until further notice' '[o]ut of concern for the health and safety of the public and Supreme Court employees.'"

U.S.: Supreme Court takes up teen’s life-without-parole case

Courthouse News Service: "Taking up the case of a 15-year-old who killed his grandfather, the Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether a juvenile must be ruled 'permanently incorrigible' to get a life sentence without parole."

U.S. Justice Thomas: Judges aren’t ‘mass media icons,’ should uphold the law

Atlanta Journal Constitution: "Judges must adhere to the rule of law and not substitute their own racial, religious or partisan preferences to achieve a desired result, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday."

U.S.: Ginsburg says deadline to ratify Equal Rights Amendment has expired

CNN: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a long-time supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, suggested Monday night that the deadline to ratify the measure as a constitutional amendment has expired and that the decades long effort must start anew."

Roberts: Judges working to promote civics, impartial courts

Associated Press: "Federal judges are taking up the challenge to educate Americans about how their government works at a time when false information can spread instantaneously on social media, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Tuesday in his annual year-end report."

U.S.: Religious school’s firing power heads to high court

Courthouse News Service: "The Supreme Court took up two cases Wednesday that ask whether teachers at religious schools can sue their employers for discrimination."

U.S.: Man whose conviction was overturned by Supreme Court after 6 trials is granted bail

NPR News: "Mississippi man Curtis Flowers was tried for the same crime six times: the murder of four people at a furniture store in 1996. He was convicted four times — but each was overturned. Two others ended in mistrials."

U.S. Supreme Court accepts new Oklahoma case about Indian reservations

The Oklahoman: "The U.S. Supreme Court, which failed this year to decide a case that could have a major impact in eastern Oklahoma, has chosen a different path to determine whether tribal reservations in the state were officially terminated."

U.S.: Supreme Court refuses to consider cities' efforts to prosecute the homeless for sleeping outside

USA Today: "The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider whether state and local governments can make it a crime for homeless people to sleep outside."

U.S.: Ruth Bader Ginsburg misses court due to illness

CNN: "Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was not on the bench for oral arguments Wednesday due to illness, according to Chief Justice John Roberts."

Liberty Medal awarded to former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy

Philadelphia Inquirer: "Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was awarded the Liberty Medal on Sunday evening at the National Constitution Center. In his acceptance of the award, Kennedy called for people, but especially government, to have respectful, open dialogue in making decisions."

Associate Justice Elena Kagan says U.S. Supreme Court not partisan, despite current political climate

Denver Post: "At a time when partisan politics seem to have taken hold of the country, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan believes that the country’s highest court remains independent."

The last of the sketch artists on cameras in the US Supreme Court

Quartz: "Art Lien didn’t dream of becoming a courtroom sketch artist, though the diminutive form of his name did hint at this ultimate destiny. In fact, it’s a job Lien once mocked."

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Appalachian Trail pipeline fight

Reuters: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal by Dominion Energy Inc. and President Donald Trump’s administration of a lower court ruling that halted construction on a natural gas pipeline due to run underneath a section of the popular Appalachian Trail in rural Virginia."