The Supreme Court is back in session on Friday, with five decisions remaining in its current term that include big cases on same-sex marriages, voter redistricting and lethal injections. Here is a quick look at what to expect in the court room.
If you are really interested in a detailed, live discussion, check out the live chat at SCOTUSblog.com. The National Constitution Center’s constitutional literacy adviser, Lyle Denniston, is also the person at the Court for SCOTUSblog, and he relays information back to its live blog.
The Court opens its session at 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time. The decisions are announced and read based on reverse seniority. So Justice Elena Kagan would be the first Justice to read a majority opinion, if she wrote that opinion. The Chief Justice is always the final person to read and announce decisions, if she or he is writing a majority opinion.
As the opinions are read, copies are given to the press, and shortly after that, they appear on the Supreme Court’s official website.
You’ll notice on the SCOTUSblog live chat that people obsess over the number of boxes containing opinions that show up at the Court. For example, if there are three boxes visible to the press, there could be from three to six opinions. (In one case recently, an opinion was so large it had its own box!)
A big question on Friday is if the Court will announce that Monday is the last day of its current term.
As the expert guests on our We The People podcast series always tell us, it is very difficult to read the Supreme Court “tea leaves.” Only the people inside the Court’s inner sanctum know for sure which days are linked to which opinions.
For now, Monday, June 29, is the term’s last scheduled day, but the Court can add more days after that. The Court will announce when its final session day is at the end of the session that precedes it.
So if the same-sex marriage decision isn't still unannounced when the Court sets its final session date, everyone knows what is on tap at the Court. That happened in 2013, when the Court read its decision in United States v. Windsor, the case about the Defense of Marriage Act and in 2012, when the Court announced its first Obamacare decision.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.
