Chief Justice of California Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)

Under pressure from anxious lawyers, court workers and judges around the state, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye late Monday suspended all jury trials across the state for 60 days.

In an order citing constitutional and statutory authority, the chief justice also empowered trial courts to adopt "any proposed rules or rule amendment" intended to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The courts' rule changes will not have to circulate for the typical 45 days of public comment.

The order notes that courts have not been able to comply with orders for Californians to stay home and to maintain six feet of distance among themselves.

"Even if court facilities could allow for sufficient social distancing, the closure of schools means that many court employees, litigants, witnesses, and potential jurors cannot leave their homes to attend court proceedings because they must stay home to supervise their children," the order said. "These restrictions have also made it nearly impossible for courts to assemble juries."

For more than a week, Cantil-Sakauye has signed emergency orders for courts around the state, authorizing presiding judges to extend filing and proceeding deadlines and to move hearings to locations outside traditional courthouses. The result has been a patchwork of rules, with some courts shutting down and others scaling back operations but still allowing public access.

Prosecutors, private attorneys and public defenders have pleaded with the chief justice in recent days to employ uniform standards across the courts. Cantil-Sakauye has repeatedly referred in statements to her limited authority "as well as the role of independent trial courts to manage their operations."

That stance appeared to soften with the new order, which followed four days of reports of potential exposures in three courthouses.

On Thursday, a Merced County judge declared a mistrial after an expected witness in a three-defendant homicide trial warned the court that he had been in contact with a colleague who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. The witness had attended the proceedings over several days before he reported feeling ill on Thursday. At least two deputy district attorneys and one defense attorney in the case have self-quarantined.

On Monday, Los Angeles County Superior Court officials announced that a judge handling a juvenile dependency calendar had developed symptoms consistent with COVID-19. The court asked the unnamed judge, who was not tested, and court staff to self-quarantine.

That announcement followed Presiding Judge Kevin Brazile's order to close the Sylmar courthouse for three days after a deputy public defender who appeared there was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

Brazile on Monday said that only attorneys, judges, court staff and litigants with business before the court will be allowed into the county's 38 courthouses.