A Spaniel, a Mute Button and Profound Matters of State

WASHINGTON — With typical gravity and a familiar “oyez, oyez, oyez,” the marshal of the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday morning that the justices had convened and, in keeping with ritual, she called on God to “save the United States and this honorable court.” Only this time the marshal did not say that observers were “admonished to draw near,” as she normally does, because there were no observers to draw near.