I wouldn't get too hung-up on the Oral arguments - where each side is allowed a short period for an opening statement, followed immediately by :30 minutes of questioning, and then a short rebuttal time varying between 5-10 minutes. Many professional court-watchers opine that they're wholly worthless; Just a show for the Justices themselves. That's the reason Thomas doesn't participate.
What really matters to the Court are the appellate records and the Amicus briefs that are filed, which are all generally read before oral arguments.
"What really matters to the Court are the appellate records and the Amicus briefs that are filed, which are all generally read before oral arguments." True, unless there are no sunstantive appellate records upon which to rely, which I fear would be the case if VA went straight to the Supreme Court.