A national news organization with operations in Tennessee has filed a federal lawsuit against the director of Tennessee's court administration, claiming the blanket closure of upcoming judicial conference meetings violates First Amendment rights of access to courts.
I arrived at the Justice A.A. Birch Building at about 8:15 a.m. this morning to see for myself what others have told me: Family members of people with court dates in General Sessions court are not allowed to accompany their loved ones into the building. It took only a few minutes to witness someone being told by a security guard to wait outside where others like them already waited in the cool morning air. There I found a grandmother who had intended to be a character witness for her grandson, a wife whose husband was there about a restraining order and a girlfriend of a man with a probation violating [...]
Family members and friends of people with court proceedings have not been allowed to attend court proceedings at the A.A. Birch Building in Nashville, which houses criminal courts and general sessions courts. Citing examples of family members who have been turned away at the door, several criminal justice groups and Tennessee Coalition for Open Government asked Davidson County criminal court and general sessions judges Thursday to modify court plans to allow public access either in person or through video-conferencing. "We are writing today as representatives of a diverse group of public interest organizations, many of which work with court-involved individuals and their families, to respectfully ask that you modify the [...]
The Tennessee Supreme Court on Monday denied a joint petition of 56 organizations, including Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, that asked it to take action to protect public access to courts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeff Bivins is chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. "At no time has the Court countenanced or approved an outright ban on public access to the courts. In fact, the Court has strongly encouraged all courts and judges to remain diligent in attempting to address public and media access," the Supreme Court said in its order. The petition was prompted after the state's 31 judicial district began turning in plans for resuming more in-person [...]
The joint petition to the Tennessee Supreme Court asks the court to use its emergency powers to protect public and media access to court proceedings during COVID-19. Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and 55 other organizations and people ranging from news media to criminal justice groups to First Amendment experts have filed a petition with the Tennessee Supreme Court asking the court to take "immediate steps to protect the public's Constitutional and common law right of access to court proceedings" during the COVID-19 epidemic. Few of the 30 judicial district plans submitted and approved by the Supreme Court provide "any reasonable level of compliance" with the constitutional right of access, [...]