13 The Supreme Court is no longer able to keep pace with the tremendous- ~& C& W* v4 w7 _( [& r
number of cases it agrees to decide. The Court schedules and hears' l) v% O3 V, c5 v
160 hours of oral argument each year, and 108 hours of next year's term9 n, b ]' W1 x+ n
will be taken up by cases left over from this year. Certainly the Court6 C/ Q' d2 A, S- j) O, R6 B
cannot be asked to increase its already burdensome hours. The most$ J. J( `4 [$ I. ?2 H& c
reasonable long-range solution to this problem is to allow the Court to
8 M! i4 }: `; {& W0 Q- N- i decide many cases without hearing oral argument; in this way the Court + @, C; |5 ?1 j7 H$ r
might eventually increase dramatically the number of cases it decides
7 L; \% k" H/ l7 O8 Q$ @ each year.2 O) H- x8 \: L$ _
" E- e2 l5 U1 |+ `2 R5 g2 y" q5 Q Which of the following, if true, could best be used to argue against the
2 n% b/ p. H! z) H) m3 h- x9 D' x feasibility of the solution suggested?
8 U% A4 s7 }9 n9 R c4 r" O2 y8 b ) H" z# T' Z/ V
The time the Court spends hearing oral argument is only a small 5 e% o1 ?* z: M: ]2 U2 w
part of the total time it spends deciding a case. - ~9 j; l) F8 y# |" I
The Court cannot legitimately avoid hearing oral argument in any9 }( o: v; ?# M |8 x x
case le ft over from last year.
5 g3 V3 G k8 k1 P# @ Most authorities agree that 160 hours of oral argument is the4 p' y V! Q# p
maximum number that the Court can handle per year. $ t! Y. [3 Y' V$ y# `7 o+ _
Even now the Court decides a small number of cases without7 k6 P5 b* w8 w: v0 X
hearing oral argument.
1 s8 S3 ?6 r% ?& h In many cases, the delay of a hearing for a full year can be
7 E. G* p1 r% p5 u: v2 \, m$ Y0 x3 M extremely expensive to the parties involved. |