SCOTUS Updates Website

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Last Monday, SCOTUS unveiled an updated website. Findlaw reported on the new website noting  that "[a] new carousel of images greets visitors to the Court's main page, along with a more conspicuous calendar, a list of recent decisions, and a table of recent arguments with accompanying transcripts and audio recordings."

Here are some highlights of the Court's new website (and compare with this version of the website as it was archived on August 29):

  • It's responsive. Page elements automatically change size when the window is resized. This also means that the site is finally mobile device-friendly.
  • The menus have been simplified. Instead of over a dozen menus and submenus, there are only six on the new website, and they fit into fairly logical categories: "Opinions," "Oral Arguments," "Case Documents," "Rules & Guidance," "News Media," and "About the Court."
  • The image carousel on the main page shows many pictures of the Court, including the Courtroom and the Main Reading Room of the Library. And when you reload the main page, you get a different set of images in the carousel.
  • Irrelevant ancillary buttons are gone. For example, the button to view a "printer-friendly version" of the main pages.

Although the updated website is an improvement, there are still no briefs. "[I]f you want to learn anything substantive about a Supreme Court case, you must go to SCOTUSblog, which isn't officially affiliated with the Court and yet keeps a repository of information -- including comprehensive docket sheets showing every document filed, with links to the important ones (petitions and responses, amicus briefs, and merits briefs)."

image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/USSupremeCourtWestFacade.JPG

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