Hybrid Format Leads to Longer Supreme Court Arguments

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken a more lax approach to time limits since returning to in-person arguments this month and that’s leading to longer sessions.

The justices exceeded the scheduled time in seven of the nine cases they heard during the October sitting, with the court going more than 30 minutes over the allotted time on Wednesday in the case of the Boston Marathon bomber.

And while a half-hour might not seem that long, it’s an eternity in the typically punctual Supreme Court, which gavels in at 10 a.m. sharp and even regulates the first two minutes of ...