Procedures

• STEP 1 (of 4)

  As a class, view the videos below to learn about the process and importance of oral arguments during a Supreme Court case.

• [Clip #1] Supreme Court Oral Arguments (7:42), The justices of the Supreme Court discuss the process and importance of the oral arguments during a Supreme Court case.

  • How long are the oral arguments for most cases in the Supreme Court? Why are they limited to this time?
  • What is most time during an oral argument spent on? Why do you think this is the case?
  • Explain at least three key points that the justices or attorneys shared about the questioning period. What similarities and differences do you notice from these views?
  • Do you think the oral argument process is effective? Explain why it is or how it could be more effective.

• [Clip #2] How the Teleconference Supreme Court Oral Arguments Will Work (3:55), Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center talked about how the Supreme Court allowed the live airing of oral arguments for the first time in history in a recent term. He also discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Supreme Court procedures in 2020 and moving forward.

  • How does teleconferencing oral arguments work?
  • Describe how these procedures differ from traditional oral arguments.

• STEP 2 (of 4)

  Direct your students to select a Supreme Court case from below and complete the chart as they listen to the oral arguments. The list of oral arguments will be updated as the Supreme Court term continues.

  Lesson Materials:

  • Handout: Supreme Court Oral Arguments Notetaking Chart (Google Doc).
  • Resource: The U.S. Supreme Court on C-SPAN (Website).
  • Resource: Oyez (Website).
  • Resource: SCOTUSblog (Website).

• October 4, 2021: Mississippi v. Tennessee (1:12:42).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is Mississippi entitled to damages, injunctive, and other equitable relief for the groundwater taken by Tennessee?

• October 4, 2021: Wooden v. United States (1:05:00).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Are offenses committed as part of a single criminal spree but sequentially in time “committed on occasions different from one another” for purposes of a sentencing enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act?

• October 5, 2021: Brown v. Davenport (52:42).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): What is the appropriate standard of review for a federal court deciding whether to grant habeas relief?

• October 5, 2021: Hemphill v. New York (1:10:18).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): When, if ever, does a criminal defendant who “opens the door” to evidence that would otherwise be barred by the rules of evidence also forfeit his right to exclude evidence otherwise barred by the Confrontation Clause?

• October 6, 2021: United States v. Zubaydah (1:11:13, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Did the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit err in rejecting the federal government’s assertion of the state-secrets privilege based on its own assessment of the potential harms to national security that would result from disclosure of information pertaining to clandestine CIA activities?

• October 12, 2021: Cameron v. EMW Women's Surgical Center (1:14:14, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): A case in which the Court will decide whether a state attorney general vested with the power to defend state law should be permitted to intervene after a federal court of appeals invalidates a state statute when no other state actor will defend the law.

• October 12, 2021: Thompson v. Clark (1:29:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Must a plaintiff who seeks to bring a Section 1983 action alleging unreasonable seizure pursuant to legal process show that the criminal proceeding against him “formally ended in a manner not inconsistent with his innocence,” or that the proceeding “ended in a manner that affirmatively indicates his innocence”?

• October 13, 2021: United States v. Tsarnaev (1:35:06, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Did the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit err in vacating the death sentence for the district court’s failure to ask prospective jurors for a specific accounting of the pretrial media coverage they had seen, heard, or read, and for its exclusion of evidence at the sentencing phase of trial that Tsarnaev’s brother had been involved in different crimes two years before the bombing?

• October 13, 2021: Babcock v. Kijakazi (53:18).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is a civil service pension received for federal civilian employment as a “military technician (dual status)” considered “a payment based wholly on service as a member of a uniformed service” for the purposes of the Social Security Act’s windfall elimination provision?

• November 1, 2021: Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson )1:26:12, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Can a state insulate from federal-court review a law that prohibits the exercise of a constitutional right by delegating to the general public the authority to enforce that prohibition through civil actions?

• November 1, 2021: United States v. Texas (1:27:49, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Can the United States sue the State of Texas in federal court to prohibit enforcement of an unconstitutional abortion law?

• November 2, 2021: Houston Community College System v. Wilson (1:26:18).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the First Amendment restrict the authority of an elected body to issue a censure resolution in response to a member’s speech?

• November 2, 2021: Badgerow v. Walters (51:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Do federal courts have subject-matter jurisdiction to confirm or vacate an arbitration award when the only basis for jurisdiction is that the underlying dispute involved a federal question?

• November 3, 2021: New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (1:57:25, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does New York's law requiring that applicants for unrestricted concealed-carry licenses demonstrate a special need for self-defense violate the Second Amendment?

• November 8, 2021: FBI v. Fazaga (2:07:15, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does Section 1806(f) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 displace the state-secrets privilege and authorize a district court to resolve the merits of a lawsuit challenging the lawfulness of government surveillance by considering the privileged evidence?

• November 8, 2021: Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. (1:18:24).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does 17 U.S.C. § 411 require a district court to request advice from the Copyright Office when there are questions about the validity of a copyright registration but no evidence of fraud or material error?

• November 9, 2021: Ramirez v. Collier (1:37:50, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does Texas’s decision to allow Ramirez’s pastor to enter the execution chamber but not to lay hands on the parishioner as he dies, sing, pray, or read scripture violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment or the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act?

• November 9, 2021: United States v. Vaello-Madero (1:03:06).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Did Congress violate the Fifth Amendment by establishing the Supplemental Security Income program in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands, but not in Puerto Rico?

• November 10, 2021: Austin v. Reagan National Advertising (1:38:12).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the Austin city code’s distinction between on-premise signs, which may be digitized, and off-premise signs, which may not, constitute facially unconstitutional content-based regulation?

• November 29, 2021: Becerra v. Empire Health Fund (1:08:00).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Did the Department of Health and Human Services follow the correct procedures when it promulgated a rule changing the way it calculates Medicare reimbursement rates for hospitals?

• November 30, 2021: Cummings v. Premier Rehab {1:20:59).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Do the compensatory damages available under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the statutes that incorporate its remedies for victims of discrimination, such as the Rehabilitation Act and the Affordable Care Act, include compensation for emotional distress?

• November 30, 2021: American Hospital Association v. Becerra (1:13:18).

  Key questions in case (as listed on Oyez.org): 1.) Is the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to lower drug reimbursement rates for certain hospitals based on a reasonable interpretation of the Medicare statute? 2.) Does 42 U.S.C. § 1395l(t)(12) preclude the petitioners’ challenge to HHS’s adjustments?

• December 1, 2021: Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (1:53:53, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is Mississippi’s law banning nearly all abortions after 15 weeks’ gestational age unconstitutional?

• December 6, 2021: Patel v. Garland, Attorney General (1:31:59).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) preserve the jurisdiction of federal courts to review a nondiscretionary determination that a noncitizen is ineligible for certain types of discretionary relief?

• December 6, 2021: Hughes v. Northwestern University (1:28:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Are allegations that a defined-contribution retirement plan paid or charged its participants fees that substantially exceeded fees for alternative available investment products or services sufficient to state a claim against plan fiduciaries for breach of the duty of prudence under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)?

• December 7, 2021: United States v. Taylor (1:20:59).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the definition of “crime of violence” in 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A) exclude attempted Hobbs Act robbery, which may be completed through an attempted threat alone?

• December 8, 2021: Shinn v. Ramirez (54:12).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the Court’s decision in Martinez v. Ryan render the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act inapplicable to a federal court’s merits review of a claim for habeas relief?

• December 8, 2021: Carson v. Makin (1:55:30, with highlighted sections).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does a state law prohibiting students participating in an otherwise generally available student-aid program from choosing to use their aid to attend schools that provide religious, or “sectarian,” instruction violate the Religion Clauses or Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution?

• January 7, 2022: Biden v. Missouri (1:26:58, with highlighted sections).

  Key issue in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the Department of Health and Human Services have the authority to enforce a rule requiring health care workers at facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption?

• January 7, 2022: National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor (2:06:24, with highlighted sections).

  Key issue in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Did the Occupational Safety & Health Administration exceed its authority in promulgating a rule mandating that employers with at least 100 employees require covered workers to receive a COVID–19 vaccine or else wear a mask and be subject to weekly testing?

• January 10, 2022: Gallardo v. Marstiller (1:46:24).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the federal Medicaid Act provide for a state Medicaid program to recover reimbursement for Medicaid’s payment of a beneficiary’s past medical expenses by taking funds from the portion of the beneficiary’s tort recovery that compensates for future medical expenses?

• January 11, 2022: Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez (1:05:12).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is a noncitizen who has spent more than six months in immigration detention awaiting resolution of their deportation withholding claim entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge to determine whether they can be released on bond?

• January 11, 2022: Garland v. Gonzalez (1:03:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is a noncitizen who has spent more than six months in immigration detention awaiting resolution of their deportation withholding claim entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge to determine whether they can be released on bond?

• January 12, 2022: Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1:07:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is the 30-day time limit to file a petition for review in the Tax Court of a notice of determination from the commissioner of internal revenue in 26 U.S.C. § 6330(d)(1) a jurisdictional requirement or a claim-processing rule subject to equitable tolling?

• January 18, 2022: Shurtleff v. Boston (1:23:42).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does Boston’s refusal to fly a private religious organization’s flag depicting a cross on a city flagpole violate the organization’s First Amendment rights?

• January 18, 2022: Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (1:04:06).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Should a federal court hearing state law claims under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act apply the forum state’s choice-of-law rules or federal common law to determine what substantive law governs the claims at issue?

• January 19, 2022: Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate (1:28:50).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Do appellees have standing to challenge the statutory loan-repayment limit of 52 U.S.C. § 30116(j), and does the limit unconstitutionally burden political speech without justification?

• January 19, 2022: Concepcion v. United States (1:15:36).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Must or may a district court consider intervening legal and factual developments when deciding whether to “impose a reduced sentence” on an individual under Section 404(b) of the First Step Act of 2018?

• February 22, 2022: Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas (1:32:24).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Which federal law governs the legality of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo’s gaming operations, the Restoration Act or the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act?

• February 22, 2022: Denezpi v. United States (1:05:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does a prosecution in the Court of Indian Offenses trigger the Constitution’s Double Jeopardy Clause?

• February 23, 2022: Arizona v. San Francisco (1:21:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Can states with interests intervene to defend a rule when the United States ceases to defend it?

• February 28, 2022: West Virginia v. EPA Consolidated (2:06:42).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the Environmental Protection Agency have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in virtually any industry, so long as it considers cost, non-air impacts, and energy requirements?

• March 1, 2022: Ruan v. United States Consolidated (1:36:24).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): May a physician alleged to have prescribed controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice be convicted of unlawful distribution under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) regardless of whether he “reasonably believed” or “subjectively intended” that his prescriptions fall within that course of professional practice?

• March 2, 2022: Egbert v. Boule (1:12:36).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does a plaintiff have a right to sue federal officers for First Amendment retaliation claims or for allegedly violating the individual’s Fourth Amendment rights while engaging in immigration-related functions?

• March 21, 2022: Morgan v. Sundance, Inc (1:22:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the arbitration-specific requirement that the proponent of a contractual waiver defense prove prejudice violate the Supreme Court’s instruction that lower courts must “place arbitration agreements on an equal footing with other contracts”?

• March 21, 2022: Berger v. North Carolina State Conf. of NAACP (1:11:06).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Do the two North Carolina legislators have a right to intervene in this case to defend a state voter-ID law?

• March 22, 2022: Golan v. Saada (1:19:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, musts courts consider all measures that might mitigate the grave risk of harm if the child were to return to their country of habitual residence?

• March 23, 2022: ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, LTD Consolidated (1:50:36).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a), which gives federal district courts authority to order litigants subject to their jurisdiction to give testimony or produce documents “for use in a foreign or international tribunal,” apply to private commercial arbitral tribunals?

• March 28, 2022: Ledure v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. (1:41:48).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is a train that makes a temporary stop in a railyard as part of its unitary journey in interstate commerce “in use” and therefore subject to the Locomotive Inspection Act?

• March 28, 2022: Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon (1:06:42).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is an airline employee who works as a ramp agent supervisor a “transportation worker” under Section 1 of the Arbitration Act and therefore exempt from the Act’s arbitration requirement?

• March 29, 2022: Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety (1:41:42).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Did Congress properly abrogate state sovereign immunity for claims arising under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)?

• March 30, 2022: Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (1:21:30).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the Federal Arbitration Act require enforcement of a bilateral arbitration agreement providing that an employee cannot raise representative claims?

• April 18, 2022: United States v. Washington (1:03:06).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does a Washington state workers’ compensation law that applies exclusively to certain federal workers in that state violate the principle of intergovernmental immunity?

• April 18, 2022: Siegel v. Fitzgerald (1:15:36).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does the 2017 Amendment (part of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act) violate the uniformity requirement of the Constitution's Bankruptcy Clause by increasing quarterly fees solely in districts under the U.S. Trustee program and not in those under the Bankruptcy Administrator program?

• April 19, 2022: George v. McDonough (1:15:54).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): When the Department of Veterans Affairs denies a veteran’s claim for benefits in reliance on an agency interpretation later deemed invalid under the plain text of the statutory provisions in effect at the time of the denial, is that the kind of “clear and unmistakable error” that the veteran may invoke to challenge the VA’s decision?

• April 19, 2022: Kemp v. United States (43:36).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Does Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1) authorize relief based on a district court’s error of law?

• April 20, 2022: Vega v. Tekoh (1:21:12).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is the use of an un-Mirandized statement against a defendant in a criminal case sufficient support a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action?

• April 25, 2022: Kennedy v. Bremerton (1:48:42).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): Is a public school employee’s prayer during school sports activities protected speech, and if so, can the public school employer prohibit it to avoid violating the Establishment Clause?

• April 25, 2022: Nance v. Ward (1:26:00).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): What is the proper legal procedure for a death-row inmate’s challenge to the method by which the state intends to execute?

• April 26, 2022: Biden v. Texas (TBD).

  Key question in case (as listed on ScotusBlog.com): Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1225 requires the Department of Homeland Security to continue implementing the Migrant Protection Protocols, a former policy under which certain noncitizens arriving at the southwest border were returned to Mexico during their immigration proceedings; and (2) whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit erred by concluding that the secretary of homeland security’s new decision terminating MPP had no legal effect.

• April 26, 2022: Shoop v. Twyford (TBD).

  Key question in case (as listed on Oyez.org): May a federal district court order the transportation of a state prisoner to help him develop evidence for his habeas petition, even before determining the admissibility of the evidence?

• STEP 3 (of 4)

  As a class, discuss the main arguments on both sides in the case, and explain its significance to the United States.

• STEP 4 (of 4)

  Choose an activity from C-SPAN Classroom's Deliberations site to engage your students in a structured student-centered analysis of the case.