The Federal Circuit’s April court week, held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, was like no other in the court’s history. Instead of hearing 12 oral arguments per day in its three courtrooms, the Circuit held a handful of telephonic oral arguments and decided the great majority of this month’s cases on the briefs. As a side effect, this also marks the first time that the public could hear live Federal Circuit arguments remotely. These new practices not only will change your expectations and planning for oral argument, but also could foreshadow more permanent changes in how the Circuit handles appeals.
The Circuit’s total caseload for April was typical – 66 appeals spread out across 15 panels. A fairly standard panel includes four argued cases and one to be decided on the briefs. The cases on the briefs tend to be veterans or employment appeals, often where the appellant is pro se. In contrast, virtually every patent case, regardless of origin, receives an oral argument. If April had been a normal month, there would probably have been around 50-55 argued cases and another 10-15 decided on the briefs. Instead, there were only 19 argued cases, with the remaining 47 decided on the briefs. And all of those 19 argued cases were heard telephonically.