Another aspect of the maskless mandate.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday lifted most restrictions on in-person state court proceedings after Gov. Greg Abbott this week reopened Texas.
Almost all in-person court proceedings had been banned since the local onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving courts no choice but to embrace remote hearings and appearances. With that requirement now ended, the Supreme Court is still encouraging judges to hold online trials and hearings, but will allow in-person proceedings if minimum health standard protocols and scheduling protocols are in place, according to the latest emergency order.
Local presiding judges also have the authority to require masks and impose social distancing requirements.
Harris County judges aim to solidify any changes to court operations by the end of next week, Administrative District Judge Robert Schaffer said.
“We have safety protocols in place that we’re going to continue with,” he said. “I think we’re going to take a breath, a deep breath, and read it (the order), and take another deep breath and read it again and try not to do a knee jerk response to it.”
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Misdemeanor Judge Sedrick Walker, adminsitrative judge over the Harris County Criminal Courts at Law, said that based on his reading of the order, courts must take action to avoid spreading COVID-19. Masks are a way of doing that, he said.
“I can’t speak directly to the opinion of each individual misdemeanor judge at this time, however, I am confident that our judges would continue to require face coverings/masks in the courtroom,” he said. “In accordance with the guidance from the CDC and Harris County Public Health, the use of face coverings will continue to be required in my courtroom.”
The courts have been pretty backed up since the beginning of the pandemic – that has been a key factor in the high jail population in Harris County, among other things. I don’t know how much this helps, but maybe it moves things along a little. I hope there’s some effort to track COVID cases that may be related to in-person court hearings, just so that we can stop and make changes as needed.