Connecticut Supreme Court building in Hartford. Photo by Michael Marciano.
The COVID-19 virus has inflicted major damage to the operation of the Connecticut judicial system and the injury is far from complete. The fear of a spike in the rate of infection as the fall and winter seasons approach could result in additional substantial impairment of judicial branch functions. Notwithstanding these looming dangers, the members of the legal community need to acknowledge the heroism of those judicial branch employees who remained at their posts in the teeth of the storm this spring.
COVID-19 crashed down upon Connecticut in mid-March. A lethal, highly transmittable disease it presented the gravest public health danger to the citizens of this state since the Spanish Flu a century ago. With no known effective treatment, the potential to overwhelm our health care system and the absence of adequate medical supplies, fear abounded. While Gov. Ned Lamont imposed a state of emergency, some judicial functions needed to be performed for the safety of the citizenry and the protection of individual constitutional and statutory rights. These included arraignments for domestic violence cases, child removal proceedings, bail hearings for individuals in custody, applications for restraining orders and sentence modifications for those prisoners for whom the virus presented a serious health risk.
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