I have no involvement in the case heard today, but I'm on the Kansas Court of Appeals. We too want to do some electronic oral arguments, so we've been working with the court's IT staff and our Supreme Court. As of midweek this week, we were still working through issues. 2/2
But events obviously overtook the normal pace of that prep work, and our Supreme Court set a quick hearing in an important suit between the Governor and the Legislature. That meant that justices, their research attorneys, and the IT staff no doubt had to go into overdrive. 3/x
The oral argument just concluded, and it was clear that the justices were well-prepared, the IT staff had done a lot of good and quick work, and the Clerk of the Appellate Courts had also been coordinating a lot of people's efforts. 4/x
In addition, the court's public-information staff created a page on the court website to let the public track everything in the case: bit.ly/3a1KdZJ. And they posted an easy link on the front page of the website Saturday morning to the YouTube feed of the argument. 5/x
Obviously, the parties in the case and their attorneys did a great deal on short notice too. I want to note the work of our court and its staff, though, in part because our staff are for the most part paid much less than private-sector counterparts. 6/x
But it takes a great deal of work to keep a justice system going; these people are dedicated and committed to that job. We won't get everything right. Please know, though, that there are good people trying their best to do it. Congratulations to those who made it work today. 7/7
(Correction: The suit was filed only two days ago.) 1a/x
