Supreme Court unveils pilot program for public to reserve courtroom seats

The Supreme Court on Thursday announced a pilot program that will allow members of the public to enter a lottery for reserved courtroom seats during oral arguments.

The court has long provided seats to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, with lines often forming outside the courthouse early in the morning or even the day before for major cases.

“Some seating” will still be allocated using that method, the court said in its announcement, but beginning in February, other seats will be given to winners of the online lottery.

The public can begin entering the lottery for the February arguments immediately on the Supreme Court’s website. Applications for future arguments will become available later.

The deadline to submit a seat request will be four weeks before the particular argument, and the court will notify applicants three weeks in advance whether they have secured a seat. The new program will also include a waitlist, the court said.

Attending in person previously was the only way to witness the court’s arguments live. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the court has streamed audio of the arguments.

The lottery system will also extend to the court's nonargument sessions, when the justices admit new members of the Supreme Court bar and announce opinions from the bench.

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