The Volokh Conspiracy

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Volokh Conspiracy

No line standers for the Bar line, Supreme Court says

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The Supreme Court's website has announced a change in policy on attending oral arguments:

Beginning in October Term 2015 [that is, Monday], only Bar members who actually intend to attend argument will be allowed in the line for the Bar section; "line standers" will not be permitted.

I gather line standers are still permitted for the public (non-Bar-member) line.

Why have different rules for the Bar line and the public line? Perhaps the Justices felt more comfortable imposing rules on Bar members who are officers of the Court than on members of the public. Or perhaps the reason is that Bar members were hiring non-members to wait in line for them in the Bar line. Thoughtful people will disagree on whether line standing should be permitted generally, but it's particularly hard to justify it when the line standers aren't supposed to be in that line in the first place. But these are just my guesses, as the rule change came without explanation.

The Court also announced policies on revised opinions and posting Internet-based content linked to in the Court's opinions. All positive developments, in my view.