Photo taken on March 12, 2020 shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington DC, (Xinhua/Ting Shen via Getty Images)
By Mark Sherman
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it is postponing arguments for late March and early April because of the coronavirus, including fights over subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s financial records.
Other business will go on as planned, including the justices' private conference on Friday and the release of orders in a week's time. Some justices may participate by telephone, the court said in a statement.
Six of the nine justices are 65 and older, at higher risk of getting very sick from the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, and Stephen Breyer, 81, are the oldest members of the court.
There is no new date set for the postponed arguments. the building has been closed to the public since last week.
The only other time the 85-year-old court building was closed for arguments was in October 2001, when anthrax was detected in the court mailroom. That led the justices to hold arguments in the federal courthouse about a half mile from the Supreme Court,
Within a week and after a thorough cleaning, the court reopened.
In 1918, when the court still met inside the Capitol, arguments were postponed for a month because of the flu pandemic. In the nation's early years, in August 1793 and August 1798, adjustments were made because of yellow fever outbreaks, the court said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed construction to resume on a contested natural-gas pipeline that is being built through Virginia and West Virginia.
Lawyers for Donald Trump met Thursday with members of special counsel Jack Smith's team ahead of a potential indictment over the former president's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The U.S. is concealing a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects, a former Air Force intelligence officer testified Wednesday to Congress. The Pentagon has denied his claims.
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter's plea deal on two tax charges fell apart on Wednesday, at least temporarily, after the federal judge hearing his case expressed concern over a related agreement on a more serious gun possession charge.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says Republican lawmakers may consider an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct, responding to enormous GOP pressure to demonstrate support for Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
