Here are some opinions from March 2020-January 2022, touching on various aspects of the COVID-19 public health crisis.
During this period, we received questions concerning the court system's vaccination policies, participation in pandemic relief efforts, virtual events and use of remote technologies, and efforts to limit foot traffic in the courtroom by facilitating (or allowing others to facilitate) out-of-court plea negotiations in courts where prosecutors usually make plea offers in person in the courtroom.
- Efforts to Facilitate Out-of-Court Plea Negotiations:
- Opinion 20-206 - court-provided plea reduction form.
- Opinion 20-152 - DA's new plea program in lieu of in-person plea negotiations.
- Opinion 20-143 - coordination solely between police and prosecution to distribute prosecutor's plea offers to defendants; see Opinion 20-177 for a broader view of factors to consider.
- Opinion 20-99 - communicating with defendant motorists about their options in VTL matters.
- Opinion 20-97 - distributing a prosecutor's "informational document" to defendant motorists.
- Opinion 20-94 - providing behind-the-scenes clerical assistance to prosecutor.
- Virtual Court Proceedings
- Opinion 21-149 - allowing volunteer attorneys to appear virtually as lawyer for the day
- Opinion 21-114(A) - disclosing the judge's own preferred gender pronouns during a virtual proceeding
- cf. Opinion 20-162 - publicly sharing the judge's experience conducting off-hours virtual arraignments
- Judicial Duties - Miscellaneous:
- Opinion 20-80 - providing general legal and ethical information in email auto-response message.
- cf. Opinion 20-124 - intrusions on court's independence included interference with judge's attempt to limit access to the court office areas for public health reasons.
- Court's Vaccination Policies
- Opinion 22-02 - denial of exemption application: use of leave; communicating opposition to policy.
- Opinion 21-150 - lawsuit challenging vaccine mandate: unsolicited offer of pro bono representation; recruitment of other plaintiffs.
- Extra-Judicial Activities:
- Opinion 21-121 - suggesting use of federal COVID-19 aid funds to complete courthouse repairs
- Opinion 21-114(B) - attending a law firm's online virtual "launch" party.
- Opinion 21-59(A) - speaking at a "remote or virtual" victim impact panel in a different jurisdiction.
- Opinion 21-11 - volunteering for a hospital's COVID-19 study (f/t judge).
- Opinion 20-149 - serving as a poll worker in light of pandemic-related shortage (f/t judge).
- Opinion 20-108 - participating in web program regarding a hospital’s performance during the pandemic (f/t judge).
- Opinion 20-89 - sending congratulatory letters to high school seniors whose traditional in-person activities were curtailed.
- Opinion 20-77 - serving on an advisory board that will make recommendations about emergency funding (f/t judge; extra-judicial activity).
- Opinion 20-76 - evaluating loan applications under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (p/t judge; outside employment).
- cf. Opinion 20-162 - publicly sharing the judge's experience conducting off-hours virtual arraignments
- cf. Opinion 20-84 - commenting on a variety of professional topics to interns at the judge's former government employer, including the judge's current role addressing the needs of the public during the pandemic.
- Judicial Campaigns:
- Opinion 20-111 - judicial candidate's attendance at virtual fund-raiser.
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