A federal judge has refused to supervise the rollout of COVID-19 safety measures at Newark's immigration court, after one lawyer practicing there died and another became infected.

U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez Friday denied a request by the American Immigration Lawyers Association to direct a plan for rollout of remote videoconferencing at the Newark court, finding the immigration lawyers were not entitled to injunctive relief.


Backstory: One Lawyer Is Dead, Another Infected Amid Calls for COVID-19 Safeguards in Newark Court


But Vazquez also denied a motion by lawyers for the Executive Office for Immigration Review to dismiss the case as moot in light of the court's implementation of videoconferencing. He instead left the door open for the parties to return to court if the implementation of measures to keep lawyers safe from COVID-19 are not carried out.