Federal Judiciary

SCOTUSblog 4.0: An Integrated and Improved Calendar

By Steven Lindsay

Of the many changes and improvements featured on ?SCOTUSblog 4.0,? few are as comprehensive as those made to the calendar. The calendar can now be found on our homepage in the right-hand column, below our ?Other Posts?; it also can be accessed on its own page through the black bar at the very top of every SCOTUSblog page, under the pull-down menu for ?Reference,? and is also available by clicking here.

While the due dates for merits briefs were previously included at the beginning of every week in the blog?s ?This Week at the Court? post, we have now integrated these due dates into the calendar, along with oral argument dates, conferences, announcement dates for orders and opinions, and other Court-related events, all of which are color-coordinated to reflect their category.

Each of the scheduled due dates for the merits briefs and oral argument sessions appearing on the calendar now link directly to that case?s SCOTUSblog ?case page.? Each case page includes the issues presented (both as set forth in the petition and in ?Plain English?), certiorari-stage documents, copies of the merits briefs, oral argument transcripts and audio recordings, the Court?s opinion, and any relevant SCOTUSblog coverage. For more details concerning SCOTUSblog?s case pages, please see Andrew?s post discussing these innovations by clicking here. Also, it should be noted that the Court?s due dates for merits briefs often change, so the SCOTUSblog staff regularly monitors the Court?s OT10 docket in order to ensure that the calendar reflects any such changes.

Another important new feature of the calendar is the ?Submit Event? link ? located just above our homepage calendar ? which allows our readers to suggest Court-related events, panel discussions, or symposia for possible inclusion on the calendar.

We at SCOTUSblog are excited by the expanded role that the calendar will now play in our coverage of the Court. By consolidating the merits briefs? due dates into the calendar as opposed to weekly posts, integrating the calendar directly with information-rich case pages, and opening up the calendar?s customization features to followers of the blog, we hope that SCOTUSblog 4.0 is more interactive and as user-friendly as possible.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on November 22, 2010 (boomark / email).