WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The first U.S. Supreme Court arguments performed by teleconference – a break from tradition due to the coronavirus pandemic – played out smoothly on Monday in a case including hotel reservation site Booking.com, with even the typically quiet Justice Clarence Thomas signing up with the fray.
SUBMIT IMAGE: The building of the U.S. Supreme Court is pictured in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 19,2020 REUTERS/Will Dunham
The pandemic has prompted changes at practically every level of American society, with the nine justices holding arguments in the trademark case not in their courtroom but by taking part from another location using a dial-in format to combat the pathogen’s spread.
The arguments began as usual with the marshal of the court’s conventional words “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,” and proceeded with Chief Justice Roberts playing the function of traffic police. Thomas, who usually refrains from asking concerns during arguments, positioned 2 rounds of queries. In another first, the court supplied a live audio feed, making these the first arguments that the public might hear live.
The technical missteps were brief, consisting of moments when Roberts needed to trigger liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Department lawyer Erica Ross a 2nd time after brief silences, recommending they had not unmuted their phones.
” I’m sorry, primary,” Sotomayor stated before introducing into her concerns.
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