WASHINGTON – The coronavirus pandemic is forcing big changes at the tradition-bound Supreme Court. On Monday, the justices heard arguments by telephone for the first time since Alexander Graham Bell patented his invention in 1876.
Audio of the arguments also was broadcast live by the news media, another first. This is just the second time that the justices are meeting outside the court since the Supreme Court building opened in 1935. (The discovery of anthrax in a court mailroom in 2001 forced a temporary relocation to another federal courthouse less than a mile away.) The court will hear a total of 10 cases over six days.