The Supreme Court docket on Thursday introduced a pilot program that may enable members of the general public to enter a lottery for reserved courtroom seats throughout oral arguments.
The court docket has lengthy supplied seats to the general public on a first-come, first-served foundation, with strains usually forming exterior the courthouse early within the morning and even the day earlier than for main circumstances.
“Some seating” will nonetheless be allotted utilizing that technique, the court docket mentioned in its announcement, however starting in February, different seats can be given to winners of the net lottery.
The general public can start coming into the lottery for the February arguments instantly on the Supreme Court docket’s web site. Purposes for future arguments will change into out there later.
The deadline to submit a seat request can be 4 weeks earlier than the actual argument, and the court docket will notify candidates three weeks upfront whether or not they have secured a seat. The brand new program can even embody a waitlist, the court docket mentioned.
Attending in individual beforehand was the one method to witness the court docket’s arguments reside. Because the COVID-19 pandemic, the court docket has streamed audio of the arguments.
The lottery system can even lengthen to the court docket’s nonargument periods, when the justices admit new members of the Supreme Court docket bar and announce opinions from the bench.
