Every time the Supreme Court submits an important opinion, tens of thousands of people follow the same virtual location, the SCOTUS blog.
A website 20 years ago sounds exactly like that. A blog that works on just one thing: the Supreme Court's comprehensive coverage. Lawyers, reporters, TV anchors, and professionals monitor live blogs on the site for court announcements and jump into the news. In fact, on Thursday, the site's servers struggled to keep up with all the traffic.
SCOTUSblog has a rare combination of traits, such as cult-like status, hard-earned credibility, and widespread respect for the news throughout the world.
This site was founded by Tom Goldstein and Amy Howe, a marital team that cares deeply about the judiciary department. (We'll talk more about this later.) Now they can feel a particular interest in court.
"I think June of this year is definitely unique in that we wait for some decisions that we expect to be truly historic," Howe said. I told me on Wednesday. "We are waiting for a potentially huge decision on abortion and gun rights, along with some other high-profile cases of religion and the environment, and a draft opinion on the Mississippi abortion case last month. The leak caused the public to really concentrate and turned their attention to the court in a way I had never experienced before. "
(While Howe runs a live blog, the gun rights ruling was communicated Thursday morning. The court will give further opinion on Friday.)
That day, traffic was off the chart. There is nothing comparable to that. But this term is very active. Traffic in June of this year is "significantly higher than at the same time in the last five years," Howe said.
Indeed, during the court announcement on Thursday morning, SCOTUSblog said, "The site may be delayed or failing to load some users due to heavy traffic. I'm working on fixing the problem. "
Goldstein later stated that the site was "attacked" by a digital villain. "It happened in the year of ACA," he said.
Public Service Model
There is a rare business model in the blog. So there aren't many business models at all.
I asked Howe how the SCOTUS blog has evolved over the last 20 years. This is because all other facts about the Internet changed during that period.
"Like everyone else, blogging focuses on publishing stories quickly, even if they aren't as fast as many news sites," she said. rice field. "And while many blog readers are lawyers and law students, I tried to give the general public as much access as possible to my coverage."
Accuracy and clarity are always the most. An important attribute, it transforms your site into a destination that people find reliable.
Over the years, the site has expanded to platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, and the Podcast Universe. "It's good online that there are more ways to educate the general public about courts," Howe said.
Reasons to make this Supreme Court term unique
In addition to the blockbuster case and the unprecedented leak, the term "something else" It's happening, "CNN's Ariane de Vogue said in" The Lead "the other day. There is a fence around the courthouse, security details are assigned to judges, and there is a political atmosphere of being digital rather than face-to-face.