Peter Yacobucci, PhD

The Supreme Court, probably more than any other institution in our government, is bound in tradition and routine. There’s a decorum in front of the Supreme Court that you just don’t see in any other government branch at any level. There’s been more change happening in the last 2 years (during the coronavirus pandemic) with the Supreme Court than in the last hundred years. The only thing that comes remotely close to that is during the 1918 flu pandemic when they delayed cases by one month. They heard cases during World War II, and during the Great Depression. They stayed open when the government was shut down. The Supreme Court goes to work no matter what. The fact that they are changing the way they operate is pretty dramatic, and it could have dramatic implications for the court going forward.