The Supreme Court announced it is postponing oral arguments for the first time in more than a century because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The highest court in the country was scheduled to hear cases March 23-25 and March 30-April 1 but will now “examine the options for rescheduling those cases in due course in light of the developing circumstances,” read a statement released Monday.
“The Court will hold its regularly scheduled Conference on Friday, March 20. Some Justices may participate remotely by telephone. The Court will issue its regularly scheduled Order List on Monday, March 23 at 9:30 a.m,” the statement added.
The Supreme Court building remains closed to the public until further notice. The next set of oral arguments was scheduled to begin on April 20.
The Court was scheduled to hear three major cases in March, which will now be pushed back. One of the cases was a legal fight over subpoenas for President Trump’s tax returns brought by congressional committees and New York prosecutors. Another concerns the separation of church and state in a case brought by religious schools that fired teachers. A third involves a copyright dispute between Google and Oracle.
The Supreme Court previously postponed scheduled arguments in response to the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 and shortened its argument calendar in 1793 and 1798 in response to yellow fever outbreaks.
Six of the nine justices are 65 and older, putting them at higher risk of having a more severe reaction to the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, are both in their 80s.
There have been more than 3,770 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States and 69 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
