Tales Told in Two

It has been a week since Supreme Court of the United States rocked the always-ready-to-rock appellate-advocacy world by rolling out the Two Minute Rule: lead counsel for parties generally will have two minutes to argue uninterrupted before a white light shines and the questioning begins. We at the Appellate Advocacy Blog have feelings—many feelings, complicated feelings, nascent feelings—about this rule. But mostly we’re curious to see how it plays out.

If the justices mostly adhere to the rule—and, as the term began this week, early reviews indicate that they mostly did—composing a set piece for that two-minute window likely will become part of the advocate’s craft. For now, though, in the early days of this new world, I’m just curious: what does an uninterrupted two-minute opening look like on the page, seeing as we’re used to seeing JUSTICE HOTMCBENCHFACE appear on the transcript a few syllables after “May it please the Court…”?

Here’s the answer, from a pair of First Monday/First Tuesday arguments by particularly outstanding advocates.

Sarah Schrup of Northwestern Law School, counsel for Petitioner in Kahler v. Kansas, whose first question from Justice Ginsburg came right after the dying of the white light:

Pamela Karlan of Stanford Law School for Petitioner in Bostock v. Clayton County:

That is the canvas.