The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently issued a notice stating that the court has not yet decided whether its October 2020 oral argument session will occur in person in Harrisburg or remotely online. Elsewhere, the highest courts of West Virginia and New Hampshire have recently resumed holding in-person appellate oral arguments. When Pennsylvania’s state appellate courts themselves resume in-person oral arguments, they should continue to make the audio or video of those oral arguments available online for remote listening or viewing by those who are unable to attend in person.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which is the federal appellate court covering Pennsylvania, began providing free online access to its oral argument audio recordings long before the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, the Third Circuit has begun offering its oral argument audio live online during oral argument sessions in addition to continuing to offer on-demand access to oral argument audio recordings thereafter.