There was nothing earth-shattering about the dispute that brought Booking.com and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office before the nation’s highest court for oral arguments Monday morning. But how it played out was historic: At long last, the American public could turn on C-SPAN and hear justices question lawyers on both sides as it happened. (Witnesses were even treated to exceedingly rare audio of Clarence Thomas on the bench; the almost-always-silent justice, who wrongly thinks oral arguments add very little to the process, asked a few questions.)
Necessity — arguments happening remotely, over the phone, not at the Supreme Court building, to comply with social distancing restrictions — was the mother of this long-overdue invention. For years, the nine jurists have heard from petitioners and respondents behind closed doors, with only the few privileged enough to camp out in line and snag one of the roughly 400 seats in the gallery able to see what happens as it happens.
The rest of us schlubs have had to settle for same-day transcripts, or the release of argument audio weeks, days or in very rare cases hours later.
This page and others have demanded the Supremes open up, as other top judicial panels across the world have done. While listening to the high court can test one’s tolerance for judicial jargon, it’s an invaluable civics lesson.
It finally happened. Now, justices who pulled back the curtain in the midst of a public health crisis dare not close them again when it ends. Or will they?
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