February Writ Arguments Postponed
Steve Emmert reports that today's writ arguments before the Supreme Court of Virginia have been postponed. The Chief Staff Attorney's office advises that appellants are being given the choice of arguing by telephone tomorrow, waiving oral argument, or arguing in person at a later date. (As a fairly obvious practice point, it's never a good idea to waive a writ argument and I have trouble imagining a situation in which doing one by phone makes sense.)
The next writ panel is scheduled for March 31.
Well, a phone writ panel might make sense when you don't want to wait another two months or so to argue. My writ panel was one of those postponed, and while I was ready to drive down there to argue it -- and would always do it in person as a preference -- more delay would not be favorable. The briefs were filed back in late September/early October, so things have taken long enough as it is.
Besides, I would hope the Court wouldn't hold it against those of us in Northern Virginia who were socked with two feet of snow last week and are about to get another 10 inches or so.