Will Baude Writes About a Shift in the Supreme Court’s Oral Arguments
The New Supreme Court Oral Argument Dynamic
Another law professor friend recently started listening to some Supreme Court oral arguments after some time away, and remarked to me that the arguments have gotten very long, and that many of the Justices have stopped letting people answer their questions. I think most people who follow the Court's arguments have noticed a similar phenomenon.
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I agree with the general observation of this trend, and I agree that it is quite unbecoming. It makes Supreme Court oral arguments sound more and more like congressional hearings, where each member is really just waiting for their turn to say their piece, with the advocate or witness an incidental prop. I don't think that's been good for legislative committees and I don't think it will be good for the Court either.
To be sure, this kind of comment-instead-of-a-question has partially been a feature of Supreme Court arguments for decades. The questions have not come only from those justices who are undecided about the questions they ask. And since oral argument represents the first collective conversation at the Court about a granted case, it's natural that the Justices are partly trying to talk to one another, not just gather information about the advocate's views.
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