Court Briefs & Oral Arguments

After the Court agrees to hear a case, a date will be set for oral arguments. Attorneys for each party have 30 minutes to persuade the Justices, who may ask questions during the oral argument. See the Visitor's Guide to Oral Argument from the Court's website for more information.

Transcripts of oral arguments became routine beginning in Oct. 1968. Before that date, the availability of transcripts is hit or miss. Contact the Court's Records and Briefs clerk at 202/479-3186 to inquire about the availability of a transcript from a pre-1968 case that you do not find in one of the sources below. Oral arguments were recorded from 1955-1978 and the audio recordings are available at the National Archives Motion Picture, Sound, and Video branch in College Park, MD: Supreme Court Oral Argument Collection (RG 267). See How to Order Sound Recordings.