judicial districts Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

TCOG, 55 others ask TN Supreme Court to protect open courts during COVID-19

By Deborah Fisher|2020-06-02T11:30:01-05:00June 2, 2020|Categories: Open Courts, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: COVID-19, electronic meetings, judicial districts, Tennessee Supreme Court|1 Comment

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, [...]

Most Tennessee COVID-19 court plans offer no provisions for public, media access

Davidson County Chancellor Ellen H. Lyle (upper right in this April 30 proceeding) has a YouTube channel to stream electronic proceedings and gives the public information on how to access it. However, a review of 26 Judicial District COVID-19 plans shows that most courts in Tennessee have not provided plans on allowing public or press access to either in-person proceedings going forward or electronic proceedings. Most judicial districts that have submitted COVID-19 plans to the Tennessee Supreme Court to resume in-person proceedings — and increase electronic proceedings — offer no guidance on how their courts will operate transparently and openly going forward. A review of 26 judicial plans shows that [...]