Unless you’ve been living in Redmond for the past day, you know that the District Court of D.C. has let Microsoft off with a slap on the wrist. Looks like the court fully accepted the swiss cheese settlement. There’s always appeal.
I found the results because (due to a strange coincidence—I very rarely visit slashdot) I happened to visit /. seconds after they posted the story (no comments had been posted when I was there), which was an hour earlier than the decision was actually released. I also subscribed to get the decision by email and had the radio on (NPR announced it during their 3:30PM news break).
But what about the Supreme Court? How does one get the opinion in the Eldred case? Lessig writes explaining that the court usually announces opinions before oral argument (example (RealAudio) from Lopez v. Davis—I wonder if it’s the same Lopez from United States v. Lopez; both involved guns). He says he’ll also get a call beforehand.
The court has several telephone numbers including one for opinion announcements. I called and got a recorded message stating (in part): “Today is Friday, November first. We will be releasing […] opinions on Tuesday, November 5th.” I’ll try to remember to call again on Tuesday.
The court also has a document on where to obtain opinions. The first draft (bench) opinion is available electronically through the subscription-only Project Hermes. Luckily, it appears that Cornell Law School provides an email list where they distribute summaries (syllabi) of the decisions “hours after their release” with links to the full decision. I subscribed to that too.