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A little bit of live-blogging: Dukes v. Wal-Mart

By Kimberly A. Kralowec

I'm now in the courtroom. I've got my mobile device. Unlike the Cal. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit allows electronic devices in the courtroom, at least for now, before the argument has begun. Seligman and Boutros are both here. The courtroom is filling up. We have about 45 minutes to wait. I've got a pretty good seat. The courtroom is beautiful, with sturdy wooden benches for seating.

I will need to revert to regular old-fashioned note-taking once the argument starts. The bench consists of two rows of seats, eight in front and three more, elevated, in back. There is no indication of who will sit where, so I must conclude that the judges will be seated based on seniority. The audience is also divided into preferred and non-preferred seating. There is a crowd of people around each counsel table. Then there are special seats for "invited guests" and the press. (I'm press, aren't I?) And then there are seats for the general public, which is where I'm sitting. We now have about 20 minutes left to wait. I've brought other work with me, to which I'm turning now.

Various staff members keep coming in through the back door and placing stuff in front of certain judges' seats. A moment ago someone came out and filled a cup with ice in front of what appears to be Chief Judge Kozinski's seat. Whenever the back door opens, there is a small hush until people realize the judges are not yet coming in. Now someone just brought in the hugest stack of papers yet and placed it in front of Kozinski's chair.

OK we've been told to turn off mobile devices so I'll be going now. Check back in the morning for my argument report.

Full post as published by The UCL Practitioner on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).