Chief Justice John Roberts appeared briefly on the Supreme Court bench today, his 65th birthday, to swear in a roomful of military lawyers to the Supreme Court bar. Roberts was joined by five other members of the court.
Earlier in the morning, the Supreme Court had issued an orders list, but did not act on big pending issues including religious liberty, LGBT rights, the Second Amendment and immigration.
Roberts is due at the Senate, to preside over the impeachment trial, at 1 p.m. ET.
The justices are now on recess: They are expected back at court on Feb. 21 for a closed door conference and then arguments and potential opinions the week of Feb. 24.
It seems the impeachment may have slowed down the release of opinions. Last year at this time the court had issued eight, this term they’ve only issued four.
Even though the justices are on recess from the bench, they will still respond to emergency orders and accept petitions. We could get an order on the Trump administration’s public charge rule as early as today, as well as the Trump filing on the president’s bid to keep his financial documents shielded from release.