State Court Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Project Overview

State courts are rapidly changing their operating procedures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As courthouses close their doors to the public, judges, administrators, and staff are developing and implementing policies that are responsive to the needs of people who would otherwise would rely on in-person court processes for remedies to their legal problems. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study the generation and consequences of massive change and innovation to court policies and procedures across the United States. This project investigates the processes underlying the development of these major institutional changes as state courts respond to the challenges of remote operations during COVID-19, how the various changes are implemented, and the effect of these changes on access to justice for state court consumer populations.

Document archive dashboard

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Data collection efforts

We are in the process of collecting and cataloguing all administrative orders and directives state courts are promulgating in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, our data collection effort spans the first 6 months of courts’ pandemic response and comprises over 15,000 documents which we are currently processing.

We are also engaged in a survey and interview project, gaining insights from court administrators, judges, and court staff about their involvement in the changes and their attitudes about institutional design and implementation.

Book project

Courts Unmasked: Civil Legal System Reform and COVID-19 is currently forthcoming at the University Press of Kansas.

Talks and additional writing

2024. “Pandemic Policymaking in State Supreme Courts: Implications for the Administration of Justice,” American Bar Association Judges’ Journal, 63(2): 22-27.

2023. “Perceptions of administrative policymaking authority: evidence from interviews in three state court systems,” Oñati Socio-Legal Series: Empirical Research with Judicial Officers and Courts: Methods and Practices, 13(S1), S171-S198.

2020. “COVID, Crisis, and Courts.” with Colleen Shanahan, Anna Carpenter, and Jessica Steinberg. Texas Law Review (Online)

2020. “Goodnight, Status Quo” State Court Innovation in the Wake of Covid-19, University of Connecticut Political Science Department Colloquium (virtual)

2020. “State Court Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” American Bar Association COVID Task Force (virtual)