In anticipation of the recent Supreme Court decisions on same-sex marriage, I spent a lot of time reading SCOTUSblog's liveblog about what was going on in the court room. Here's some of what I learned about how the Supreme Court works:
- The Supreme Court announces its decisions on specified "decision days"
- The Court does not notify anyone ahead of time about which decisions will be handed down on which decision days. This causes significant anticipation among interested parties and the media as they attend decision day after decision day hoping to hear about they cases they're interested in.
- Copies of the decisions are printed out and carried into the court room in cardboard boxes to be handed out. The number of boxes is used as an early indicator of approximately how many decisions will be handed down that day. It's not 1:1 box:decision. Three boxes may indicate 3-5 decisions, for example.
- The Justices divide up the writing of the decisions roughly equally. There is much speculation on how cases will be decided based on who might be writing which opinion. (A member of the majority writes the majority opinion.)
- The Justice who was the primary author of the decision announces it on decision day. They may read the decision in full or in part or make other comments. Dissenting Justices occasionally read their dissents or make comments.
- Nobody can adequately explain why the Court doesn't allow live audio streaming of decisions, or even release recordings at a later date. The media is not allowed to record or stream either. There is literally no record of the Justices' decision day comments (if they vary from simply reading the opinions).
- The Justices announce decisions each decision day in reverse seniority order, so the most junior Justice with a decision to announce that day will start.
- 80-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg can do 20 pushups
- Justice Ginsburg rides a flying unicorn to the Court everyday that leaves a rainbow trail in the sky behind it...
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