Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. Photo: Mike Groll/AP

New York's chief judge says the state court system has a "constitutional obligation" to transition back to in-person operations gradually, arguing they have put in place measures to hamper the spread of the coronavirus in courthouses.

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore's comments, included in a video speech released Monday, come days after a federal judge denied a temporary restraining order requested by public defender organizations in a suit against the state court system. The organizations sued over a decision to start certain in-person state court proceedings, saying the move discriminates against people with disabilities.

In a video speech released on Monday, DiFiore showed no signs of rolling back in-person operations already in place.

"So while virtual proceedings will continue to play an important role for us in limiting courthouse traffic, we are unwavering in our commitment to move forward, safely and responsibly, with in-person appearances in order to carry out our constitutional mission of fairly and speedily resolving cases, including those involving the constitutional rights of accused individuals, many of whom have been incarcerated since early in the pandemic," she said in the video.

There's a significant rise in the rate of dispositions and pleas when defendants and attorneys personally appear in front of a judge, DiFiore said. That, she argued, confirms the importance of continuing with the gradual restoration of in-person proceedings for pleas and sentencing, she said.

DiFiore said several trials that were suspended in March are now resuming. Grand jury operations are set to restart on Aug. 10 in New York City and grand juries were empaneled last week in every county outside the city, she said.

"The public rightfully expects, and must have confidence, that our courts are being faithful to our mission, doing justice, upholding the rule of law and responsibly standing against the disruption of the pandemic," she said in the video speech.

In the suit brought by the public defender organizations, the federal judge scheduled a telephone hearing for Tuesday.

Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks was listed as a defendant in the suit, but DiFiore was not.

The lawsuit states that hundreds of clients and staff members with the public defender organizations have medical vulnerabilities that place them at a high risk of death or serious illness from the coronavirus.

"The completely unnecessary rush to throw hundreds of people back into the courts on almost no notice is nothing short of traumatic and irresponsible," the lawsuit argues.