by Art Lien | Dec 20, 2020 | Arguments, Supreme Court
I’ve imagined cobwebs on the bench. Maybe sheets have been thrown over the Justices’ chairs to protect them from dust like in an old horror movie.
Darkness was everywhere, it smelled like a tomb
I was ready to leave, I was already walkin’
But the next time I looked, there was light in the
We look forward to that day, probably the first Monday in October, when we are back in the courtroom. Meanwhile, the 2020 term goes on with lawyers making their arguments by telephone from dining room tables and law offices.
Cameron T. Norris for petitioner
Neal K. Katyal for petitioners
André Bélanger for petitioner
Elizabeth Murrill, Louisiana Solicitor General, for repondent.
Jonathan M. Freiman for petitioners
Sarah E. Harrington for respondents
Greg Silbert for petitioners
Nicholas M. O’Donnell for respondents
Professor Bryan Garner for respondents
Kannon Shanmugam for petitioner
Daniel L. Geyser for respondent
Aaron L. Nielson, Court-appointed amicus
by Art Lien | Nov 12, 2020 | Arguments, Supreme Court
With one third of the Supreme Court now comprised of Trump appointed justices there was fear that last Tuesday’s election might end up being decided by the justices. That now seems unlikely given the margins, much to the relief of the Court I imagine.
The Justices continue to hear arguments by telephone conference, though probably not on the receivers pictured above. Below are sketches done from photos arguing counsel were kind enough to send me.
Sarah M. Harris for petitioner
Sanjay Narayan for respondent
David M. Shapiro for petitioner
Mississippi Deputy Solicitor General Krissy C. Nobile
Kannon Shanmugam for petitioner
Neal Katyal for repondents
Lori Windham, with co-counsel Mark Rienzi, for petitioner
David Zimmer for petitioner
Patrick M. Jaicomo for respondent
Texas Solictor General Kyle D. Hawkins
California Solicitor General Michael J. Mongan
by Art Lien | Nov 1, 2020 | Supreme Court
Halloween Banner / Justice Barrett
After a rushed and contentious partisan confirmation Justice Amy Coney Barrett will join the chief and associate justices to hear oral arguments tomorrow. And with the presidential election upon us there is a good chance we will soon have a sense of the new Court.
by Art Lien | Nov 1, 2020 | Arguments, Supreme Court
No justices were actually sitting in the courtroom on the first Monday of the October 2020 term, nor where any lawyers or the public. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced all of us to adapt to new conditions of social distancing. For the Supreme Court that has meant hearing arguments by conference call, with the bonus that the audio is live-streamed to the public. For me, while it’s great to listen to the arguments from the comfort of my studio, there’s not much to draw. At least there wasn’t until arguing counsel started sending me photos of their kitchen-table set-ups ( not really, at least not yet. But I’m hoping for a kitchen setting ). I’m enjoying the change after forty years of lawyers in suits arguing from the lectern.
From CUNY Law School, Ramzi Kassem argues for respondents
Deepak Gupta for respondent
Sean Marotta for petitioner
Stephen I. Vladeck for respondents
Kelsi B. Corkran for petitioner
Mark D. Standridge for respondents
Texas Solicitor General Kyle D. Hawkins
Nicholas J. Bronni, Arkansas Solicitor General petitioner
Craig Goldblatt for petitioner
Brian P. Goldman for petitioner
by Art Lien | Nov 1, 2020 | Supreme Court
Justices hear oral arguments by teleconference during coronavirus pandemic
SCOTUS statue ‘Contemplation of Justice” overlooks DC burning during riots following death of George Floyd
by Art Lien | Sep 29, 2020 | Supreme Court
After a week of memorials the beloved Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will join her late husband Marty at Arlington National Cemetery in a private ceremony.
I never got to meet the Notorious RBG. There were plans to visit her chambers and do watercolors of the jabots, but time ran out. My one off-the-bench memory of her is when she stopped by the press room for a chat during which she observed that DC drivers are the worst.
Posted here are some of the better sketches I’ve done of Justice Ginsburg ( there are plenty of lousy ones! ), along with a few SCOTUSblog banners done during the week of remembrance.
Justice Ginsburg with opinions in BNSF Railway Company and Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp.
Brian T. Burgess for petitioner
Justice Ginsburg dissents in American Legion v. American Humanist Assoc.
Justice Ginsburg announces opinion in Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill
Justice Alito with opinion in Hernandez v. Mesa
Justice Ginsburg dissents in Hernandez v. Mesa
Jeffrey Wall, Principal Deputy Solicitor General
Justice Ginsburg sporting “dissent” jabot?
Justice Ginsburg
Courtartist is me, Art Lien. I've been sketching the courts since 1976, mainly for NBC News, and more recently SCOTUSblog. The U.S. Supreme Court is my regular beat.
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