Smith in Bloomberg Law on Supreme Court’s Plan for Remote Hearings

A stay-at-home order to combat COVID-19 has prompted the Supreme Court of the United States to hear arguments remotely for the first time, including in a few cases that are particularly time-sensitive. St. Louis Partner Barbara Smith was quoted April 14 by Bloomberg Law regarding the change in procedure. Among other matters, the justices will hear oral arguments involving access to President Donald Trump’s financial records and two cases involving how members of the Electoral College may cast their votes. “The Court’s decision to allow argument via teleconference in some of its more time-sensitive cases perhaps reflects an awareness that it could be important to decide some of these issues before the next election cycle,” said Smith, who clerked for Justice Samuel Alito in the court’s 2015 term. Regarding how advocates might approach remote argument, Smith cautioned that whatever experience advocates have with phone arguments, even experience with three-judge appellate panels, it might “not translate to a nine-Justice Supreme Court teleconference.”