A new report from a group of judges and lawyers tasked with examining the issues confronting federal courts as they look to resume jury trials during the global pandemic illustrates just how many novel and confounding questions COVID-19 has raised for the judiciary.

The 16-page report from the jury subgroup of the federal judiciary's COVID-19 Judicial Task Force, titled "Conducting Jury Trials and Convening Grand Juries During the Pandemic," highlights the difficulty of bringing groups of people together into confined indoor spaces during a pandemic when public health officials have urged avoiding those settings when unnecessary. The report from the outset notes that its guidelines are only suggestions and that each nation's 94 trial courts will have to chart its own path forward. And it flags issues that range from the practical and previously unthinkable, such as having cleaning personnel continuously wipe down the handrails of courthouse stairwells due to limitations on elevator capacity, to potential adaptations that might raise constitutional issues, such as witnesses seeking to testify remotely despite defendants' Confrontation Clause rights.

"Our report strives to balance the need to resume jury trials with a court's responsibility and obligation to protect the health and safety of jurors, other trial participants, court employees, and the public," said U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., of the Western District of North Carolina, who chaired the subgroup.

The report suggests that courts set up one courtroom on "an experimental basis" to test modifications such as the addition of plexiglass and the rearranging of seating before instituting courthousewide changes. It also urges courts to consider conducting a mock trial in a designated courtroom using federal defenders, federal prosecutors, representatives of the clerk's office, court reporters and judicial personnel to test modifications and new equipment before moving forward with a live trial.

As to jurors, the report says courts should make arrangements to allow for people who are serving to maintain social distancing and clearly communicate what actions they're taking to protect juror safety. That said, the report tells courts to expect more jurors to present cases to be excused for hardships due to their own health concerns and those of their loved ones.

"Plan for a lower yield from the jury pool during the pandemic," the report says. "Even healthy jurors not considered particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 may hesitate to serve for a variety of reasons: to avoid the risk of exposing other members of their household to the virus; to care for children who no longer have school or summer activities to attend; to look for work if they have recently lost their employment; or because they have recently returned to work and cannot afford to take leave."

The subgroup of the task force consisted of 10 federal judges from across the country, one court clerk, one circuit executive, one federal prosecutor and one federal public defender. The report notes that it will be updated as individual courts prepare their own guidelines for restarting.

Read the report: