The COVID-19 pandemic has stalked the world for approximately seven months now, causing untold misery and deaths, disruption of many aspects of normal society and, in addition, bringing jury trials to a complete halt and otherwise wreaking havoc on court proceedings. Courts across the country have sought to address the situation in differing ways, all with the aim of restarting civil jury trials as soon as possible. Some courts have embarked upon a program of conducting jury trials remotely, using Zoom, Ring Central, Microsoft Teams, Webex or other platforms. The concept is that jury trials would be conducted without jurors physically present in courtrooms, but viewing the proceedings and deliberating by way of web conferencing platforms.

The sense of urgency in restarting our system of jury trials in both civil and criminal matters is understandable. After all, the very reason for courts’ existence is the resolution of cases. Two of the first 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution specifically address jury trials, and the jury system has become the bedrock of the judicial branch of our national and state governments.