On oral argument

SCOTUSblog has an interesting post titled Does oral argument matter? It cites (and provides links to) several recently law review articles. One article found that "Justices today are more likely to speak “harshly,” as well as make more jokes than they did in the past, and that they are better prepared." The Justices also use up more of the time allotted for oral argument than in the past. Another article found that "the quality of oral argument does seem to affect the Justices' votes." A third article concluded that "Justices will attempt to raise new issues [e.g., standing or ripeness] in oral argument to derail cases when they disagree with the majority on the merits."

Law360 offers Davis Wright Tremaine's Jason Harrow article California Oral Arguments Coming Soon to a Screen Near You, about the recent announcement that the Cal Supremes will begin live streaming all arguments. The article notes that California "will become the 35th state court of last resort to provide live or near-live online video access to its proceedings." He predicts that the streaming arguments will "become quite a hit," noting that In re Garcia garnered over 11K YouTube views and that Brinker has over 9,500 views.