U.S.

Supreme Court Website Fails, Temporarily Derailing Opinion

Online release of opinions hits a snag in maritime case
Coronavirus outbreak is keeping justices off the bench

The U.S. Supreme Court building stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. President Donald Trump demanded that Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg recuse themselves from future cases involving his administration after a dissent from a decision allowing the government to test prospective immigrants' wealth.Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

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By Greg Stohr

March 30, 2020 at 4:03 PM UTC

Updated on

March 30, 2020 at 5:49 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

The U.S. Supreme Court hit a snag in its plan to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, as the court’s website gave readers an error message when they tried to call up a new opinion posted online Monday.

Although the justices have postponed their courtroom sessions because of the outbreak, they are trying to press ahead with other business, including the release of opinions. The plan was to rely exclusively on the court’s website and forgo the tradition of announcing rulings from the bench and handing out hard copies to reporters.