A quick note on the scary seconds just before my SCOTUS argument this morning. We had tested all the technology carefully, working with the Court’s excellent, helpful staff. But just seconds before I was about to start talking, the line went completely dead. Silence!
This happened while @smmarotta was wrapping up, which was my cue that the Chief Justice was about to call my name to immediately start. At first, we thought that Sean’s line cut out. A few seconds later, we realized that the high-tech phone system we were borrowing had shut off!
(We had switched from our own conference room to a friend’s law firm because the Court detected some bandwidth issues on our VOIP lines and the other firm’s connection was ideal. The Court staff thought it was the best audio quality of any advocate this term.)
This morning, we logged onto the line very early, to test the sound and make sure everything was working well. It was. But the system had an automatic cutoff, after three hours or so, that we didn’t know about.
I immediately called the Clerk on his cell. Our backup plan had been that I’d do my whole argument on my iPhone. Imagine arguing before the Supreme Court on a cell phone. We were seconds away from having to implement it.
It’s hard to overstate the stress in those few moments—we were keeping the highest Court in the land waiting! Seconds felt like hours.
The Court was pretty quickly able to reestablish the connection, working with my superstar assistant Abigail Cipparone. The Chief Justice made a joke about how he thought maybe I was resting on our brief. I apologized, started off, and soon it was as if nothing had happened!
I’m not sure if I have any big lessons here. These are weird times and everyone’s just figuring out how to navigate. I’m so grateful that we were able to work it out with the help of the talented and incredibly nice Court staff. And I’m really glad it didn’t throw us off course.
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