The Judicial Council of California has launched the Pandemic
Continuity of Operations Working Group, which will quickly
collect best practices and publish a framework to help the
state’s 58 superior courts address interrupted services
in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The group, a roster of
22 superior court presiding judges and court executive
officers from a Judicial Council advisory group, plans to publish
by early June its collection of best practices and guidance from
federal, state, and local entities.
The group will gather best practices—from both inside and outside
the judicial branch—courts can use to manage disruptions from the
COVID-19 pandemic that have taken a toll on facilities,
personnel, case processing, and budgets. The group will develop a
template courts can customize as the state, counties, and cities
begin to lift or modify public health restrictions. A list of the
members of the new working group can be found
here.
On the national front, California Chief Justice Tani G.
Cantil-Sakauye and Administrative Director Martin Hoshino are
also taking part in the ”Post-Pandemic Planning
Initiative” led by the National Center for State Courts, the
Conference of Chief Justices, and the Conference of State Court
Administrators. That group will analyze the impact of the
pandemic on judiciaries nationwide, provide guidance to
courts on how to safely recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,
and identify which adapted court practices should continue
following the pandemic.
The creation of the Judicial Council working group is the
latest action following a slate
of emergency orders and rules approved by Chief
Justice Cantil-Sakauye or the Judicial Council of California in
recent weeks to ensure California courts—which remain open as
“essential services” under Governor Newsom’s stay-at-home
executive order—can meet stringent health directives while also
providing due process and access to justice.
The wide-ranging measures have included those
to reduce jail populations to help curb the spread of
the virus, suspend evictions and judicial
foreclosures, allow pretrial hearings to be conducted
remotely, prioritize critical juvenile justice
proceedings, and more. For more, visit newsroom.courts.ca.gov.
