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

Filing 85

ELEVENTH 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 03/09/2021 (ddm) (ADI)

FILED IN CLERK’S OFFICF
US.[) C -Atlanta

MAR 092021
JAMES N. i.AflEN, Clerk
By: ?A -‘y-I

/

Deputy Cleilc
—

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
IN RE: COURT OPERATIONS UNDER
THE EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES
CREATED BY COVID-19 AND RELATED
CORONAVIRUS

GENERAL ORDER 20-01
Eleventh Amendment

ORDER

General Order 20-01, dated March 16, 2020, as amended by Orders dated
March 30, 2020; Aprit 30, 2020; May 26, 2020; July 1,2020; July 10, 2020; August
3, 2020; September 1, 2020; September 28, 2020, December 8, 2020, atid Janitaty
27, 2021, addresses Court operations for the United States District Court for the

Northern District of Georgia under the exigent circumstances created by the
coronavirus pandemic and the spread of COVID-19. The Tenth Amendment to
General Order 20-0 1, entered January 27, 2021, extended the time periods specified
in the Order through and including April 4, 2021.

In anticipation of the expiration of its Tenth Amendment to General Order 2001, the Court again considets whether national, state, and local COVJD-19
conditions have sufficiently improved to permit the safe resumption of federal july
trials within the Northern District’s courthouses. The Court notes first the continued
f:orable national and local downward trends in both the daily COVID-l9 infection
rates and test positivity rates from the extremely high rates experienced in January.

The Court also notes the steadily incteasing numbers of people receiving COVII)—

1 9 vaccines throughout the United States and in Georgia, the increasing rate of
vaccinations, the recent emergency approval of another COVJD-19 vaccine, and the
increase in the allocations of the vaccines. While still in Phase la+ of its vaccination
program, Georgia has now expanded that phase to include teachers.
While the decline in infection rates and increase in vaccinations are extremely
significant and positive developments in the progress against COVID-19, the daily
infection and test positivity rates remain at a very high level in comparison to the
historic numbers throughout the pandemic. Some concern has been expressed that
the infection rates may now be leveling at a high number rather than continuing to
decrease. At the beginning of March, Georgia’s 7-day daily average for new cases
of COVID-19 was reported at 2,871 with a 14-day average positivity rate greater
than 1 2 percent.
SimilarLy, while both the number and rate of persons vaccinated in the United
States continue to increase, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently
reported that only approximately 15.9% of the United States’ population has
received at least one dose of the COVID- 19 vaccine and only 8.1% have received
both doses. In Georgia the numbers vaccinated are lower with oniy 12% of the
population receiving at least one dose and 7.3% receiving both doses. Given the

current status ot Georgia’s vaccine rollout, it still appears to the Court that it could
he several weeks or longer before vaccines are avaiLable to the general public.
-

-

Conditions at the district level remain unfavorable, with many of the district’s
counties among the top counties for reported new cases, especially those in the
greater metropolitan area, but also some more rural counties.
In its last Amendment the Court noted at least six cases of the COVID-19
variant strain had been identified in Georgia. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention now reports the number at 137 cases, although the potential impact of the
variants on the rate of transmission of the disease in Georgia, if any, remains
unknown.
As noted in previous Orders, the President’s declaration of a national
emergency under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C.

§

1601 et seq.) due to

COVID-19 has not changed nor have 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.
As stated in our previous amendments, the Court has suspended jury trials in
the hope that COVID-19 could be contained, and its threat eliminated. Despite
months of intense preventative measures, however, the significant threat presented
3

by COVII)— 19 within the United States, Georgia, and the district

continues.

While

the implementation of the vaccinations and the recent emergency approval of an
additional vaccine represent significant progress in the fight against COVID-19, the
Court reluctantly concludes that current circumstances do not yet allow it to safely
resume jury trials. As a result of the continuing high rates of infection and the low
percentage of people vaccinated, the Court concludes that before jury trials may be
safely resumed, another month is needed to allow for a further decline in the
infection rate within the district and for a further increase in the number of people
vaccinated. Assuming the favorab]e trends continue in both critical areas, the
Court anticipates that it will be able to resume jury trials more safely in May
and intends to do so absent unforeseen developments.

As with its previous suspension of jury trials, the Court concludes that a
further suspension will allow conditions within the district to sufficiently improve
so that counsel can adequately prepare for trial, and the health and safety of the
public, those appearing before the Court, and the Court itself can be adequately
safeguarded. Significantly, extension of the suspension of jury trials also will allow
greater numbers of the bench, bar, and public to receive the COVID-19 vaccine
before jury trials resume.

4

Therefore, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that General Order 2t)-0l, as
amended, is further amended to extend the time periods specified therein through
and including the date of May 2, 2021.
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 May 2, 2021,
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 May 2, 2021.
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.

§

3 161 (h)(7)(A), as the Court finds that the ends ofjustice 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 May 2, 2021. 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.

§

3 161 (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 20-0 1 and its subsequent

amendments, are likewise incorporated by reference as a specific finding under 1 $
U.S.C.

§ 3 161(h)(7)(A) in the record of each pending case where the Speedy Trial

Act applies.

SO ORDERED this

‘

day of March 2021.

THOMAS W. THRASH, JR.
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

6