Washington (AP) The Supreme Court launched a new online lottery system on Thursday that allows people to bypass the wait and watch the court in action.
The distribution of seats for arguments and sessions in which the justices do not hear new cases but may make decisions in matters that have already been argued will be done by lottery, beginning with cases that will be argued in late February.
The number of seats that will be up for grabs through the lottery was not specified by the court. There are roughly 400 seats in the courtroom, however occasionally there are just a few dozen reserved for the general audience.
The line may begin days before the arguments in high-profile cases. According to the court, there will still be some seats available for those who wait in line.
Up to four seats are available for public requests, and they will be sent out via email roughly three weeks before to the session. Soon following the introduction of the next monthly argumentation calendar, applications will be accepted for upcoming sessions.
Unable to visit the country’s capital? All of the court’s arguments are streamed live.
Prior to the coronavirus epidemic closing the courts in March 2020 and forcing the justices to participate in arguments remotely over the phone, the justices had never consented to having their arguments streamed live.
Even after the justices welcomed the public back in 2022 and resumed in-person arguments the following year, the court kept the livestream.
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