We are getting near the end of the Court’s October 2017 Term. Some petitioners and respondents might be thinking about timing their filings to either have the case considered this term, or have it carried through the summer and into next fall.
The last conference for this term is June 21st, and the last paid-petition distribution date for that conference is June 5th. Working back through the calendar, the last brief in opposition filed-date to get a case into the last conference will be Friday, May 22nd. (But a waiver-of-response filed after May 22nd would eliminate the 10-day waiting requirement (see Rule 15.5), and such cases might still distribute in time for the last conference).
All of this puts the last petition filing date to reasonably expect a conference this year at sometime in the week of April 16th – 20th. The exact deadline is hard to pin down because the 30-day response clock starts at the docketing day, sometime after the filed petition gets through screening. But a petition that is actually docketed by April 20th will get a scheduled response date by May 21st. Of course, if the respondent requests and receives an extension, the conference will push past the end of the term.
All distributions after June 5th and through the summer will be considered in the long conference at the end of September.
The Court’s scheduled argument days have been full for about a month, so without special argument scheduling, all grants through the end of this term will argue next term.
The 2017 Term Calendar is here, and the current distribution schedule is here. The new 2018 Term Calendar is here.