Lighting system during oral arguments: Red means stop, just like when you're driving

I am constantly surprised by the number of lawyers who don't understand the lighting system the court uses during oral arguments. Green means go, yellow means you are in your reserve time and red means stop. I have no reason to believe this isn't the same everywhere. Yet, for some strange reason, I've noticed many attorneys are under the mistaken belief that there are two yellow lights - one for when they are in the waning minutes of their opening argument and another when they reargue following the appellee's argument.

This, however, is never the case. I'm not sure how this is difficult to understand, nor can I understand why the attorney, if confused by this green-yellow-red system (which operates like a traffic signal), would not ask the clerk or whoever to explain it to him.

Tags: oral argument lighting system