I'm Elizabeth Slattery and I'm Tiffany Bates and welcome to SCOTUS 101 where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court, what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

This week we're talking about how the courts are coping with the coronavirus.

So I hope everyone is staying home when possible and staying safe. And please bear with us in this

episode. Tiffany and I are recording both of us from home. And so we hope that this goes well.

But we wanted to talk briefly about how courts across the

country are responding in different ways to the current coronavirus pandemic. So as of this recording,

some courts are proceeding with oral arguments. The New York-based Second Circuit, for example, is going to hear oral

arguments and live stream them, but limit the number of staff and other people allowed into the

courtroom. The Seventh Circuit, which is based in Chicago, is going to hear arguments by phone.

Several courts, the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth circuits, for example, have canceled or postponed upcoming arguments.

The D.C. Circuit here in Washington announced that it's going to let each of the three judge panels decide whether to proceed with upcoming arguments either by phone or to postpone them or to simply decide the cases based on the

briefs. And so without hearing oral argument. It's not clear what the D.C. Circuit plans to do with a

couple of en banc arguments. It had scheduled to rehear with the full court two cases at the end of April.

One brought by House Democrats who are trying to

subpoena the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn and another involving a challenge

to funding for the Southern Border Wall Project. So we'll see what happens with those.

The Ninth Circuit over on the West Coast originally had moved some of its arguments

from higher-risk cities, including Seattle, to some of its other courthouses, such as in

Pasadena, California, but it's now decided to postpone those arguments as well. And one of the

upcoming arguments that has been postponed is a copyright suit brought by the estate of beloved children's author, Dr. Seuss, against authors of a comic book called, Oh, the Places You'll Boldly Go.

It's apparently a mashup of Dr. Seuss and Star Trek. So we'll keep an eye on what's happening with those cases.

The D.C. Superior Court shut down this week after one of the marshals tested positive for coronavirus, and it's only going to hear cases that are deemed

...