Supreme Court Justices Interrupt One Another in Arguments Resembling a Roller Derby
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. increasingly referees the debate as justices interrupt one another to ask questions in Supreme Court oral arguments.
The New York Times likens Roberts’ role to that of an air controller who has to make sure the questions “land one at a time without crashing into one another.” The story describes the justices’ eager questioning as “a sort of verbal roller derby” and quotes an observer who says some of the arguments “more closely resemble a Ping-Pong match than a dialogue or conversation.”
The Times offers an example, taken from an argument (PDF) last month over the right to counsel. About 15 minutes into the argument, Justice Stephen G. Breyer asks lawyer Seth Waxman if he is finished. Waxman briefly wraps up his point, and before Breyer can ask his question, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg jumps in. Next, Justice Antonin Scalia asks questions, and it’s a half-hour before Breyer breaks in. He is interrupted by Scalia, who objects to Breyer’s point. Later, after Scalia asks a question, Breyer tells the lawyer to “skip that one” and continues with his questions.
The story notes that the court’s newest justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, are more active questioners than the justices they replaced.
