2020 started out as a year of promise and opportunity with a shiny new headquarters for the Georgia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, and credit is due for keeping the wheels of justice moving forward as the state and nation wrestled with an unknown virus, partisan rancor and racial upheaval.

Chief Justice Harold Melton and his colleagues on the Georgia Judicial Council’s COVID-19 Task Force have recognized that the administration of justice in extraordinary times may entail extraordinary measures. Melton decision to issue the first of nine (so far) Judicial Emergency declarations, accompanied by guidance to judges, court administrators and personnel, has allowed for cautious reopenings of the state’s judicial circuits.