Georgia Supreme Court going back to remote oral arguments
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — This month’s oral arguments before the Georgia Supreme Court will be held remotely, Chief Justice David Nahmias announced Thursday.
Word that the high court was going back to online proceedings came less than a week after Verda Colvin was sworn in as the newest Supreme Court justice during a live ceremony inside the state Capitol and two months after the court resumed conducting in-person hearings at the nearby Nathan Deal Judicial Center.
Nahmias cited the increase in cases of COVID-19 resulting from the highly contagious delta variant and the resulting revision of public health guidelines.
“We continue to encourage courts to conduct remote proceedings when it is lawful, effective and safer,” Nahmias said. “Our court would prefer in-person oral arguments, but we have found remote oral arguments to be reasonably effective and safer for those involved with them.”
Nahmias said evidentiary hearings and jury trials elsewhere in Georgia’s court system that must be done in person should continue subject to “appropriate health protections.”
Former Chief Justice Harold Melton issued a string of statewide judicial emergencies after the coronavirus pandemic first struck Georgia in March of last year.
Although the most recent of those orders expired June 30, the state Supreme Court has extended emergency rules allowing all levels of the court system to continue conducting some proceedings using video conferencing technology.
This month’s oral arguments in the Georgia Supreme Court are scheduled to take place Aug. 24, Aug. 25 and Aug. 26. No decision has been made regarding the oral arguments set for mid-September.