The Supreme Court on Monday issued a rearranged schedule for its first session of oral arguments next term, an action that would usually not be noteworthy. But it’s clear that at least one change was made with newly sworn Justice Elena Kagan in mind. It will take a bit of explanation.
The first day of the fall term, Oct. 4, will be historic because for the first time in history, and because of Kagan’s arrival, three of the nine justices who emerge from behind the velvet curtains at the start of the session will be women. It is a moment that could have been destroyed, or made awkward, by how the schedule of arguments had first been laid out in July. The first case to be argued that day on that first version of the schedule was Abbott v. United States, a federal sentencing case.
