Access to Justice: Are your constitutional criminal rights protected during a pandemic?

Throughout the entire coronavirus stay-at-home order, courthouses in Arizona and locally in Coconino County have remained open. Government in general is classified as essential but the courthouses go a step further because they are our access to justice in the United States. The Coconino County courthouses take their instructions from a statewide judicial administrative order but the chief administrative judge for each county also has authority to further mandate how courthouses in their jurisdiction will function during coronavirus. The judges in Coconino County have individual discretion to decide what proceedings are going forward, which ones are postponed, and whether parties and their attorneys may appear in person or virtually. The current order will expire on May 31st, 2020 but it is anticipated that many restrictions will be extended into the summer.
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