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Law360 (July 1, 2021, 5:29 PM EDT ) Massachusetts' top court said Thursday it will soon lift nearly all of its stringent COVID-19 rules for courthouses as infection numbers in the state continue to dwindle and the judicial branch moves a step closer to business as usual.
The first of the two new Supreme Judicial Court orders on courthouse operations removed occupancy limits and physical distancing requirements while requiring face masks to be worn by all, regardless of vaccination status. The other order eliminated restrictions on where and how jury trials can be held.
Both orders take effect July 12. The top court warned, as it has throughout the pandemic, that its plans can be adjusted if the situation changes.
"We are truly encouraged by the progress in the Commonwealth with respect to COVID-19, and hope it will continue and allow courts to gradually return to normal," Chief Justice Kimberly Budd said in a statement. "At the same time, we hope to take some of the lessons learned during the pandemic and apply them going forward, particularly when it comes to conducting certain proceedings virtually."
While the SJC's moves indicate a general return to normal, they also hold on to a handful of pandemic-era changes, including the public's ability to bring cellphones into courthouses, the use of smaller juries for certain types of cases, and the ability to empanel juries remotely with the consent of all the parties.
Juries for three cases have been empaneled remotely, according to a May report by the SJC's Jury Management Advisory Committee. Feedback from jurors, judges and attorneys was generally positive, the report said.
The order concerning ongoing courthouse business explained that courts also can continue to hold remote proceedings by phone or videoconference, so long as they are consistent with "constitutional rights and statutory requirements."
Parties with scheduled in-person proceedings can ask the presiding judge or clerk magistrate to hold it virtually instead, the order said.
Courthouses may still screen visitors when they enter, according to the order.
The state high court said the priority for jury trials should go to criminal and youthful offender cases, as well as some cases involving sexually dangerous persons. Criminal cases in the Superior Court and youthful offender cases in the Juvenile Court that typically would require a 12-person jury can go to trial with a jury of six people instead, the court said.
Civil cases in the Superior Court and Housing Court that traditionally would have a dozen jurors will be tried with six-person juries, with or without the parties' consent, the high court added.
--Editing by Daniel King.
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