Code Revision Commission et al v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc.

Filing 80

SIXTH AMENDMENT TO GENERAL ORDER 20-01 RE: COURT OPERATIONS UNDER THE EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES CREATED BY COVID-19 AND RELATED CORONAVIRUS. Signed by Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. on 08/03/2020. (mmc) (ADI)

FILED IN CI.Ei

U.s.o.c.~~09!FICE

AUG O3 2020
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

IN RE: COURT OPERATIONS UNDER
THE EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES
CREATED BY COVID-19 AND RELATED
CORONAVIRUS

JAMESN
By:d.i_. ~

17EN, Clerk
DepUty Clerk

GENERAL ORDER 20-01
Sixth Amendment

ORDER
General Order 20-01 , dated March 16, 2020, and amended by orders dated March
30, 2020; April 30, 2020 ; May 26, 2020; July 1, 2020 ; and July 10, 2020, addresses Court
operations for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia under
the exigent circumstances created by the spread of COVID-19. The Fifth Amendment to
General Order 20-01 , entered July 10, 2020, extended the time periods specified in the
Order through and including August 30, 2020.
Data from the Georgia Department of Public Health reflects that the average number
of new COVID-19 cases per day in the State of Georgia has increased and remains higher
than it was on March 16, 2020, when the Court originally entered General Order 20-01. A
July 26, 2020, federal report prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force places
Georgia in the red zone for new COVID-19 cases, indicating more than 100 new cases per
100,000 population and in the red zone for test positivity, indicating a positive test rate
above 10 percent. The three Georgia counties identified by the report as having the highest
number of new cases for the past three weeks, accounting for 24.2% of all new cases in
Georgia during that period, are all within the Northern District of Georgia.

Data from the Georgia Department of Public Health indicates the number of
confirmed cases per day throughout the Northern District of Georgia is at its highest since
the beginning of the pandemic. The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Georgia and the
Northern District continues to rise, and no vaccine or cure is available to the general public.
There has been no change to the President's declaration of a national emergency under the
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.) due to COVID-19 or to the findings
of the Judicial Conference of the United States that emergency conditions due to this
national emergency have materially affected and will materially affect the functioning of
the federal courts generally. The existing conditions in the Northern District of Georgia do
not meet the gating criteria set forth in the Federal Judiciary COVID-19 Recovery

Guidelines for expanding current Court operations in the Northern District.
As the adverse conditions giving rise to General Order 20-01 have not sufficiently
resolved for the Court to expand current operations or return to normal operations, IT IS

HEREBY ORDERED that General Order 20-01, as amended, is further amended to
extend the time periods specified therein through and including the date of October 4, 2020.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that while there will be no civil or criminal jury
trials in any division of the Northern District of Georgia until after October 4, 2020, grand
jurors may continue to be summoned and grand jury proceedings may continue to be held;
and summonses may be issued to prospective jurors for civil and criminal jury trials
scheduled to begin after October 4, 2020.

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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the time period of any continuance entered as

a result of this Order (whether that continuance causes a pre-indictment delay or a pre-trial
delay) shall be excluded under the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 316l(h)(7)(A), as the
Court finds that the ends of justice served by taking that action outweigh the interests of
the parties and the public in a speedy trial. Absent further order of the Court or any
individual judge, the period of exclusion shall be from March 23 , 2020, through and
including October 4, 2020. The Court may extend the period of exclusion as circumstances
may warrant. This Order and period of exclusion are incorporated by reference as a specific
finding under 18 U.S.C. § 316l(h)(7)(A) in the record of each pending case where the
Speedy Trial Act applies. See Zedner v. United States, 547 U.S. 489, 506-07 (2006). The
periods of exclusion in the Court' s prior orders on this subject, General Order 20-01 and
its subsequent amendments, are likewise incorporated by reference as a specific finding
under 18 U.S.C. § 316l(h)(7)(A) in the record of each pending case where the Speedy Trial
Act applies.

SO ORDERED this _a_ day of August 2020.

THOMAS W. THRASH, JR.
CHIEF UNITED ST ATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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