[20200330]LSB10437_法院和2019冠状病毒疾病.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i The Courts and COVID-19 March 30, 2020 The spread of the respiratory disease COVID-19 has prompted far-reaching responses affecting many areas of American life. As Americans strive to practice social distancing to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the disease, the United States federal courts have implemented various measures designed to protect litigants, jurors, court personnel, and members of the public, and to reduce the obstacles to litigation arising from the pandemic. As this Sidebar discusses in more detail, the courts generally possess significant discretion to modify their procedures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are some areas where further changes would require congressional action. Federal Court Actions to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 The federal courts have taken a variety of approaches to mitigating the risks of COVID-19. At the trial court level, for example, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York announced on March 13, 2020, that it would postpone new civil and criminal jury trials. While the court allowed ex