My late wife’s cousin has been granted cert. to argue a case before the US Supreme Court this October, and has invited me to attend as a spectator. This is the second time he has argued before SCOTUS, and we are very proud of him. He is an attorney for the Innocence Project, though I do not know if this case is specifically related to that. I don’t have the defendant’s name yet, so I don’t know the details of the case.
The opportunity to observe The Nine as they listen to arguments is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, so I will be travelling to Washington DC in October.
I will try to make some notes and post my impressions here.
That’s awesome. I toured the building but wasn’t able to get into the guided tour that entered the actual courtroom. I was mega bummed having to just take pictures from the foyer.
I don’t know yet, i just spoke to him, and he said he just found out a week or so ago, and would get me tickets. I didn’t get the defendant’s name, but I have been trying to research it online, with no results.
It’s open to the public on a first come-first-served basis. People stand in line for it! I’m guessing the number of people the parties can bring to sit in the gallery is somewhat limited, so they don’t completely monopolize it to the point where the general public is excluded (ie, you probably get X number of guests, and additional people aren’t forbidden, they just have to wait in line like everyone else).
Once you know the actual case, make sure you pump your late wife’s cousin for as much detail as possible. Appellate advocacy can be very boring to someone who just comes into the courtroom, unless you know exactly what is in issue, since the lawyers may be talking about rather abstruse points of law. Once you have some idea of what the issues are, however, you can usually follow along.
