'Viewed as a Success': Florida Supreme Court Sets Second Round of Virtual Arguments
After a one-day experiment under its belt, the state's high court will go virtual again for three days of arguments in June.
May 13, 2020 at 12:05 PM
4 minute read
Things went so well — or at least well enough — in the first experiment with remote Florida Supreme Court arguments that the justices will do it again in June.
The May 6 experimental calendar was intentionally limited, but the high court set a three-day schedule of virtual hearings for June 2-4.
The Florida court's Zoom video conferencing is a leg up on the U.S. Supreme Court's conferences by phone. Wednesday was the sixth and final day of virtual arguments centered in Washington and spread over two weeks.
The Florida arguments are part of Chief Justice Charles Canady's push to restore more court operations during the coronavirus pandemic, and one of the assignments for a task force he created is to research long-term remote court concepts.
In the near term, 14 cases are on the tentative June argument calendar.
"The historic May 6 arguments were widely viewed as a success," the court said in a statement Wednesday. Supreme Court Justices and attorneys interacted with each other using Zoom teleconferencing software and backgrounds plucked from the courtroom.
Akerman partner Katherine Giddings, deputy chair of the law firm's litigation group, argued on the first virtual hearing day, and she commended the court for organizing its novel approach.
"This was not easy to do. They had to create a whole system to do this," she said. For instance, a court employee flew a camera-equipped drone in the empty courtroom ahead of the hearing to snag of photo of the bench to use as a faux background when the justices were speaking.
"There was some fading in and out, and there was garbling of some of my answers," she said. Some of Giddings' face also disappeared during her appearance using a laptop in her Tallahassee office.
She offered some pointers — use a hard-wired desktop rather than a wireless device, stand up and preferably at a podium, and mute your microphone when not speaking.
To allow public access, the arguments are shared to the court's existing livestream feeds, which include a Facebook Live channel.
"This system allows broad worldwide public access while minimizing security problems associated with public teleconferencing," the court statement said.
Once again, the clerk's office will work with attorneys in advance to help them set up and test their remote Zoom connections. Justices and lawyers are in separate locations and share the software platform for live questions and answers after 175 years of in-person hearings.
The court prides itself on its tech-friendly approach after approving the nation's first televised trial for Miami murder defendant Ronny Zamora in 1977. The first blockbuster trial on live TV was serial killer Ted Bundy's 1979 double-murder case, also in Miami.
On the appellate side, the Florida Supreme Court began livestreaming full oral arguments in 1997 and was the first appellate court in the nation to routinely broadcast its arguments on Facebook Live starting in 2018.
At Canady's direction, other Florida courts are still operating in essential-only mode with very limited in-person hearings and no jury trials at least through July 6. South Florida federal courts are operating under the same calendar with chief judges allowing for extensions.
Read more:
In History-Making First Online Arguments, Florida Supreme Court Tackles Marijuana Legalization
Chief Justice Canady Releases 'Best Practices' for Florida Courts Amid COVID-19
Florida State Courts Extend Coronavirus Outage Into July
For 'Safe Return,' Task Force to Guide Gradual Reopening of Florida Courts
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