Happy First Monday!

The NLJ has Justices Return to Not-So-Normal Courtroom Arguments: 

• On the first day of the new U.S. Supreme Court term, the justices returned to the courtroom for regular business for the first time since March 2020, but there was nothing regular inside and outside of the pandemic-era courtroom.
• the hallways were vacant except for a few Supreme Court staff and police officers.
• as Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. gaveled an end to the October 2020 term and announced the opening of the October 2021 term, all of the justices, but one, were back on the bench in a sparsely populated courtroom
• There is a new seating order on the bench now that the justices are back. Barrett, as the newest justice, sits at the far right as you face the bench. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was the junior justice before her, moves to the far left end
• The only justice wearing a mask was Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is diabetic. Kavanaugh, who tested positive for the virus Thursday, participated in the arguments from his home.