Key legal question
Whether Art. 6 ECHR entitled the appellants to a public hearing before the Federal Supreme Court.
Extracted holding
Any possible right to a public hearing had to be invoked already before the last cantonal instance; no such request was made, and the Federal Supreme Court proceedings did not create such a right.
Extracted reasoning
The claim was not timely raised before the cantonal appellate court, and the BGG provisions on Federal Supreme Court procedure do not grant an oral public hearing.