The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will postpone oral arguments for the March session due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak — marking the first health crisis-related delay for such proceedings since the Spanish flu a century ago.
Those arguments include cases scheduled to before the court on March 23-25 and March 30-April 1.
A press release says the justices will hold their regular conference on Friday and issue their Order List on Monday, though the release says “Some Justices may participate remotely by telephone.”
The Supreme Court building was already closed to the public last week, and it will remain open for business even as the oral arguments — which see the justices, several of whom are senior citizens, packed in the courtroom with hundreds of lawyers, activists, members of parties and journalists — are postponed. Filing deadlines will also not be extended, according to the Supreme Court’s news release.
According to the court’s news release, the last time the Supreme Court postponed oral arguments due to a health crisis was 1918 as the Spanish flu, which sickened U.S. President Woodrow Wilson at the time, afflicted the United States.
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