When the COVID-19 pandemic came out of nowhere to lay waste huge portions of the global economy, the shutdown of Georgia’s courts understandably caught those charged with attempting to keep them in operation flatfooted.     

The Fulton County courts, by far the busiest in the state, were battered by the same restrictions and ongoing series of judicial emergencies declared by Chief Justice Harold Melton—now on extension No. 11—as other courts statewide.