4 ms·

How do one become an audience of a Supreme Court (or federal courts) trial in the U.S?

• gizmo686 7y ago
  Stand in line. Oral arguements are open to the public, and available on a first come first serve basis. Generally speaking, court proceeding in the US are open to the public unless the proceeding has been specifically closed to the public.
• evanb 7y ago
  Get up early and get in line at the court early. The calendar is available https://www.supremecourt.gov/ https://www.supremecourt.gov/
• dave5104 7y ago
  As others have said, you'll need to stand in line. I recommend going in a warmer month if you can. When I was there, it was March 2013, and it snowed/sleeted the morning of. Luckily, at one point they handed out paper tickets designating your place in line and at that point you could go to the closest cafe to warm up. Also, at the time, they only allowed the first 50 people in line to be able to sit in the audience to view the entirety of the oral arguments. No idea if it's still the same 6 years later or not. If you were in spot 51+, you had the opportunity to join a rotating group of audience members who would get to enter the court room and view about 10-15 minutes of arguments, before being escorted back out and replaced with another group.
• colejohnson66 7y ago
  In addition to standing in line, you need to get up really early. IIRC, you probably want to arrive before 5 AM.
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]