The Supreme Court announced Thursday it is extending some court filing deadlines due to the impact of the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The press office notified reporters the filing deadline for lawyers petitioning the justices to hear a case is extended to 150 days from the lower court judgment.
The clerk will also be considering motions to delay certain petitions where more time is needed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The extensions, though, do not apply to cases that have already been granted review or set for oral arguments. It is unclear how long the changes will remain in place but will be enforced until the court issues further guidance.
The announcement came after the justices recently decided to postpone some oral arguments for later this month.
The court was expected to hear cases from March 23 through April 1, but those are put off for now.
Some of the most-eyed cases that were scheduled during that period were disputes over Congress’ authority to subpoena banking documents and other private financial records from President Trump’s businesses, as well as a challenge over the validity of a subpoena out of New York to obtain the president’s tax returns.
The justices were also set to hear a case involving Google, which weighs the issue of copyright protection. There was also a First Amendment dispute scheduled to be argued involving employment discrimination cases brought against religious employers.
Moving the hearings is quite rare, though it has happened in the past.
The court postponed arguments in 1918 during the Spanish flu epidemic. A press release earlier this week also noted calendars at the court were changed in August 1793 and in 1798 over yellow fever.
Staffers at the court are working remotely in some capacities to limit the number of people in the building, which has been closed to the public.
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