The Supreme Court announced Monday it would postpone its next sitting for oral arguments due to the COVID-19 spread, saying it would look at the calendar to reschedule at a later time.
The court was expected to hear cases from March 23 through April 1, but decided to put off the challenges for now.
“The Court will examine the options for rescheduling those cases in due course in light of the developing circumstances,” a spokesperson announced in a press release.
Some of the most-eyed cases that were scheduled during that period were disputes over Congress authority to subpoena banking documents and other private financial records from President Trump’s businesses, as well as a challenge over the validity of a subpoena out of New York to obtain the president’s tax returns.
The justices were also set to hear a case involving Google, which weighs the issue of copyright protection. There was also a First Amendment dispute scheduled to be argued involving employment discrimination cases brought against religious employers.
Moving the hearings is quite rare, though it has happened in the past.
The court postponed arguments in 1918 during the Spanish flu epidemic. The press release also noted calendars at the court were changed in August 1793 and in 1798 over yellow fever.
Staff at the court is working remotely in some capacities to limit the number of people in the building, which has been closed to the public.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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