Q: How do Supreme Court reporters coordinate or compete during “major” releases?
A: To be honest, there’s not a lot in the way of “competition” during “major” releases of opinions or orders. The Supreme Court is in many ways notoriously opaque, but it issues all of its opinions and orders to everyone at the same time – usually, both in person, by handing them out at the court’s Public Information Office, and online. (Major leaks are a different issue, and we are impressed by, but have a friendly envy of, our colleagues who land big scoops.)
Supreme Court reporters do sometimes coordinate informally when the court releases order lists, which (depending on the time of year) can be quite long. When we’re in the press room with paper copies of the lists in our hands, someone may shout “no grants” to confirm quickly that the court has not added any cases to its merits docket. Or if there is a particular case that we’re all following, someone may flag where the court has acted on it (or if it didn’t do so).
The Public Information Office’s distribution of orders and opinions can be chaotic on “big” days, but it’s also collegial. By tradition, reporters for “the wires” – Reuters, the Associated Press, and Bloomberg – get the spots closest to the desk from which orders or opinions will be handed out, so that they can dash quickly back to their cubicles. After that, it’s a free for all, but even then, reporters near the desk will often hand a copy back to colleagues who are further away.