The new site is supremecourt.gov, replacing the old supremecourtus.gov.
I like the new layout: It provides the info I’m likely to be interested in right up front, such as recent opinions and the argument calendar. Dropping the “us” from the URL makes sense, too, given that Congress has senate.gov and house.gov rather than senateus.gov and houseus.gov. (I suppose it’s also consistent with DOJ’s move from usdoj.gov to justice.gov.) I suppose the switch causes some short-term headaches, but presumably those headaches would be bigger if the Court had waited to switch until some time in the future.
SUPREME COURT TRIVIA UPDATE: The new website has rotating pictures of the Supreme Court building on the homepage. Most of the places photographed are easily recognized, except for one. Which brings me to the trivia question: Where was this picture taken?
Andrew says:
Lookin’ good.
March 18, 2010, 3:00 pmyankee says:
Much better than the old site, which was hideous and a pain to navigate. Also better than the Senate Finance Committee’s site, which is “optimized for Netscape Navigator 4.x or Internet Explorer 4.x.”
March 18, 2010, 3:10 pmJRL says:
Much better. It looks like a real website now. The old one was about as good as the website of the state appeals court that I used to work for. And that is a bad thing.
March 18, 2010, 3:17 pmaphrael says:
It does look much better, but … it’s powered by ASP.NET.
*wince*
March 18, 2010, 3:22 pmyankee says:
Also, I see that scotus.gov still produces a 404 not found error. Most unfortunate!
March 18, 2010, 3:23 pmruuffles says:
Now if they could do the same for all the circuit court websites. Yuck.
March 18, 2010, 3:28 pmCVMe says:
I’d guess the picture is taken from the top of the other spiral staircase — the one that visitors cannot visit. I guess that because the one you can visit would be too easy, though I’m not sure how you would tell them apart from the photograph, which may be why you would say that the picture isn’t easily recognizable.
March 18, 2010, 3:35 pmjperkins says:
my guess is the stairwell is part of the scotus library?
March 18, 2010, 3:40 pmBruce Boyden says:
I feel like I’ve been on a spiral staircase, after checking my phone on the 1st floor somewhere — but I’m going to guess this is the staircase up to the basketball court.
March 18, 2010, 3:42 pmSuper Ball says:
The spiral staircase where the clerks and justices play super ball.
March 18, 2010, 3:48 pmOff Kilter says:
From the movie Vertigo…
March 18, 2010, 3:49 pmPersonFromPorlock says:
So, does the across-the-board dropping of the “us” mean our government is now a generic government, nothing special about it?
OK, I know, I know, but file it under ‘accidental truths’.
March 18, 2010, 3:50 pmterrivus says:
Just off the Court library, looking down one of the two (inaccessible) spiral staircases.
March 18, 2010, 3:55 pmOff Kilter says:
PfP: “So, does the across-the-board dropping of the “us” mean our government is now a generic government, nothing special about it?”
Of course not. It just means it no longer represents “us”.
March 18, 2010, 4:05 pmAnthony says:
Heh. Wonder what other countries think about the US absconding with the .gov and .mil domains (to be fair, at the time they were set down, it’s not like there were any non-US government or military sites on ARPAnet).
March 18, 2010, 4:42 pmcboldt says:
Not just a spiral staircase, it’s oval. The construction is uncommon, I think there is one other in the world. And I agree, it’s on the side that accesses the basketball court.
March 18, 2010, 4:43 pmDudeman says:
Finally, a special icon for SCOTUS in my favorites menu…..
March 18, 2010, 4:49 pmdrunkdriver says:
Quick question: for cert petitions and merits briefs, which are the best sites to visit- abanet? scotuswiki?
Any others that some of you have found helpful?
March 18, 2010, 4:58 pmDave N. says:
I like Abanet. I think it is clean, easy to follow, and provides the briefs in pdf format. It also has the bonus of linking directly off the Supreme Court website.
March 18, 2010, 5:18 pmCVMe says:
Yes, the construction is special. As I recall the docent saying, there is no interior support or something like that.
March 18, 2010, 5:24 pmPeteP says:
“Where was this picture taken?”
From the top of the stairs ? :-)
March 18, 2010, 5:29 pmCrazyTrain says:
I know wrong thread but this can’t go uncommented on:
Seriously?
March 18, 2010, 5:47 pmAnon321 says:
I assumed that it was a combination of Final Fantasy and March Madness, which is even more ominous still.
March 18, 2010, 5:53 pmOrin Kerr says:
I assumed it was a combination of the Final Countdown and Blues March, which was kind of cool.
March 18, 2010, 5:58 pmkrs says:
The background of the website is red right now. Will it occasionally change to blue when Justice Kennedy is in a different mood?
March 18, 2010, 6:01 pmBleh says:
I assumed it was a combination of Final Destination and the March of Dimes, which made no sense at all to me…
March 18, 2010, 6:02 pmMITalum says:
MIT’s Fenway House also has an elliptical spiral stair.
March 18, 2010, 7:03 pmSee http://web.mit.edu/fenway/www/tour.html
Patrick S. O'Donnell says:
Cf. the spiral staircase to this: http://jurisdynamics.blogspot.com/2008/11/natural-logarithms-and-nautilus.html
March 18, 2010, 7:30 pmAnatid says:
Orin-
Do you have access to a hi-res version of that photo? I think I just found my new desktop wallpaper.
March 18, 2010, 7:53 pmCato The Elder says:
I laughed for a good 10 minutes when I read that.
March 18, 2010, 9:15 pmPrivate Label Rights Simplified says:
[...] The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » New Supreme Court Website … [...]
March 18, 2010, 10:38 pmAndrew says:
That photo is indeed from the top of the oval staircase right outside the entrance to the fitness room and basketball court. A previous commenter is correct, there’s no supports other than the steps themselves and where they’re connected to the wall.
March 18, 2010, 11:43 pmRon Paul Being Censored In Telephone Polls | Daily Etrend News says:
[...] The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » New Supreme Court Website … [...]
March 19, 2010, 1:01 amAndrew MacKie-Mason says:
Actually…looking at it again, I’m wrong. I’m relatively sure that the staircase with the basketball court spirals the other way, so that the wall is on your left as you descend. Is this a matching one on the other side of the building?
March 19, 2010, 1:09 amOil Companies Caused Hurricane Katrina and Hollywood Caused Earthquakes says:
[...] The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » New Supreme Court Website … [...]
March 19, 2010, 2:29 am[insert here] delenda est says:
My memory probably fails me, since (amazingly) I don’t visit the SC that often. But I recall there being, as referred to by CVMe, a staircase which is inaccessible to visitors to the left of the courtroom as you enter – where Justices’ visitors walk past. I think you can see a radiation sign if you look in as a legacy of the good ol’ days.
Is that the staircase in question?
March 19, 2010, 2:59 amAbdul says:
It’s the staircase to the vault where the Justices keep their offerings to Satan for getting them such awesome jobs.
March 19, 2010, 7:52 amCMH says:
I seem to vaguely recall being told when I last visited the Court that there were a total of 5 similar staircases in the world: Two at SCOTUS, two in a courthouse somewhere in the mid-west (from whatever state the architect was from, Minnesota maybe?), and a fifth that I forget.
Don’t let the apparent vividness of this memory suggest its accuracy. I haven’t been there for almost 20 years…
March 19, 2010, 8:26 amSCOTUSblog » Friday round-up says:
[...] “bring[s] the site into the 21st century only a few years late.” ACSblog and Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy comment on the update today as [...]
March 19, 2010, 10:18 amJR says:
Knowing little to nothing about the construction at 1 First St., I’ll be the contrarian and guess that it’s actually the entrance to the abyss where the Privileges or Immunities Clause is entombed, guarded by the undead walking soul of Justice Samuel F. Miller.
March 19, 2010, 4:35 pmBZ says:
Let me be a little contrarian:
March 19, 2010, 5:04 pmMany of us link to the docket, and the docket is appropriately the first on the secondary menu to the left. Now the weird part: if you hover on the docket link, you get two secondary links, neither of which is the docket. So you have to actually click the docket link to get to the docket, and if you do, you can’t get to other two options you had if you hovered. Who designed this?
cityduck says:
The staircase reminds me of the new oval staircase in the vatican museum.
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March 20, 2010, 8:30 amhgh
JaimeInTexas (Jam) says:
It is the death spiral into the “living” Constitution cone.
March 20, 2010, 12:55 pmpchuck says:
The red is a bit much.
March 20, 2010, 6:24 pmFrances Munsell says:
My bad, only just found this… I wish I had known earlier :(
March 24, 2010, 9:07 amBert Persing says:
Just thought i would comment and say neat theme, did you code it yourself? Looks great. If you liketo swap the links with us please let me know.
March 25, 2010, 6:48 pmUS Supreme Court launches new website « UKSC blog says:
[...] “bring[s] the site into the 21st century only a few years late.” ACSblog and Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy comment on the update today as [...]
March 26, 2010, 1:05 pmTerresa Mellard says:
Do you think blogging just has to be about writing? Reason I ask is I want to start a photography blog, but I feel I am better at expressing myself with photos rather than write. Should I even start it? With your experience could it work, more pictures, less words?
March 30, 2010, 2:59 amKids Hair Accessories says:
lol at the comment about “the spiral staircase where they play SUperbowl!” Amazing photo though, I’d like to take my kids there someday
April 6, 2010, 11:31 pmwaLlpaper says:
I also think that new design is much much better. It is modern, looks charp and clean
April 11, 2010, 9:34 amI liked it
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May 22, 2010, 3:56 pmJohn Daly says:
Being in the domain industry I agree it was good to drop the .us, good job!
May 28, 2010, 3:15 pmHam Radios says:
That’s a lot of steps for those old guys on the court to hike up and down every day :-)
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June 20, 2010, 4:08 amBuzz says:
my guess is the stairwell is part of the scotus library?
July 2, 2010, 2:53 pmChris says:
Thanks for this, I think it borders on gaudy, but it’s better than the alternative. I can’t think of a better website because most court sites are so outdated and ugly.
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August 8, 2010, 9:14 amKevin Vlasick says:
OMG! That is an one sided point of view. I am sure I have the same view.
August 8, 2010, 12:58 pmThe judge says:
LOL – That was an odd point of view. I am sure I agree.
August 8, 2010, 1:01 pmJefftoch Adam says:
Actually it is really very interesting.
August 19, 2010, 11:36 amWorshipJobs says:
LOL — That was an odd point of view. I am sure I agree.
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September 4, 2010, 1:17 amAttorneys Augusta says:
I totally agree Jeff. I find it extremely interesting. Orin, great post by the way.
September 14, 2010, 2:07 pm