Chief Justice Lets Oral Arguments Run Past Red Light

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. isn’t as strict as his predecessor when the red light goes on indicating it’s time for lawyers to end their oral arguments.

Former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist often cut off lawyers mid-syllable when their time was up, although he occasionally allowed a few extra seconds, the National Law Journal reports. But Roberts often allows lawyers to finish their thoughts, and sometimes allows extra time if he feels it’s warranted.

Roberts’ more lenient standard was on display on Wednesday during oral arguments in a case that asks whether former officials of foreign governments may be sued for torture, the story says.

The case, Samantar v. Yousuf, involves two laws—the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which bars suits against foreign states, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows suits against individuals who committed torture under authority of a foreign nation, the New York Times reports.

Oral arguments in the case were supposed to last an hour, but they went on at least 66 minutes, the NLJ says. It began when Roberts told the torture victims’ lawyer, Patricia Millett of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, that she could finish her sentence. “Fourteen lines—and several sentences—later,” the story says, citing the transcript, “Millett finished.”

Roberts allowed two other lawyers to go beyond their allotted time as well, according to the story.

The defendant in the case, Mohamed Ali Samantar, was minister of defense and prime minister in the regime of Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre in Somalia. Samantar, who now lives in Virginia, denies the torture allegations.