William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

Hearing cases before the Supreme Court 511

be heard.^45 Given the limited information that justices have about any given case,

interest group involvement can be a strong signal about the importance of a case.

There is also some evidence that briefs from the solicitor general have an impact on

the outcome of a case.^46

Oral Argument

Once the briefs are filed and have been reviewed by the justices, cases are scheduled

for oral arguments. Except in unusual circumstances, each case gets one hour, which

is divided evenly between the two parties. In especially important cases, extra time

may be granted (for example, the case challenging Obamacare had six hours of oral

argument, which was the most since a Voting Rights Act case in 1966).^47 Usually there

is only one lawyer for each side who presents the case, but parties who have filed amicus

briefs may participate if their arguments “would provide assistance to the Court not

otherwise available.” Given the tight time pressures, the Court is usually unwilling to

extend the allotted time to allow “friends of the court” to testify.^48

The Court is strict about its time limits and uses a system of three lights to show

the lawyers how much of their allotted 30 minutes is left. A green light goes on when

the speaker’s time begins, a white light provides a five-minute warning, and a red

light means to stop. Most textbooks cite well-known examples of justices cutting

people off in midsentence or walking out of the courtroom as the lawyer drones on.

One source implies that these anecdotes are generally revealing of Court procedure,

saying: “Anecdotes probably tell as much about the proceeding of the Court during oral

argument as does any careful study of the rules and procedures.”^49

oral arguments

Spoken presentations made in person

by the lawyers of each party to a judge

or an appellate court outlining the

legal reasons their side should prevail.

However, having a preference for “careful study” over anecdotes, we were curious

about how common it was for justices to strictly impose the time limits. Initially, we

examined 42 cases from the 2004–2005 term, using the online transcripts on the

Court’s website.^50 We found that most lawyers did not use all their allotted time, with

62 percent of the cases coming in under 60 minutes, 17 percent at exactly an hour,

and 21 percent at over an hour. One-sixth of the lawyers still had at least five minutes

Cameras are not allowed in the

Supreme Court, so artists’ sketches

are the only available images of oral

arguments. Depicted here is the oral

argument in a 2018 case on Ohio’s

voter registration laws.

Full_15_APT_64431_ch14_488-529.indd 511 16/11/18 1:45 PM