Jury Service in the Age of COVID

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On Monday, September 28, Harris County District Clerk Marilyn Burgess reminded residents that limited jury service is set to resume in Harris County and that they are still required to respond to the jury summons. The press release was no doubt prompted by the September 18 order from the Supreme Court of Texas postponing the start of in-person jury proceedings in justice and municipal courts until December 1. Burgess emphasized that although jury service was suspended for the Houston Municipal Courts, Harris County District and County Courts are set to move ahead, especially in light of the over 90 requests for jury panels in the month of October alone.

Because the facilities at Jury Assembly are still under construction after being damaged by Hurricane Harvey and because the temporary facilities in the Harris County Administration Building were too cramped to adequately allow for social distancing and proper safety measures, the County has made arrangements to hold jury selection at NRG Arena. In anticipation of the resumption of jury service, the District Courts of Harris County and the Harris County District Clerk have recently revised their websites to offer prospective jurors more information about jury service, especially in the age of COVID-19, stressing not only the importance of juries in our democratic society but also the efforts being made to ensure a safe environment for jurors, attorneys, judges, and litigants. On their website, the Harris County District Courts outline the safety protocols that have been implemented at NRG Arena as well as the downtown courthouses. There are detailed instructions explaining what jurors should expect upon their arrival at NRG and upon entering three key areas: the arena itself, the jury seating room, and the voir dire room. For those selected to serve on a jury, there are descriptions of the safety measures and protocols that they will encounter upon entering the downtown courthouse and their assigned location. In addition to safety measures, the District Court website has specific information depending upon whether you are a juror, a lawyer, or a self-represented litigant. Jurors can find general juror information, such as qualifications and exemptions, and information about what to do, what to bring, and what to wear. Lawyers can find answers to questions about safety, pretrial matters, jury call/voir dire, and trial and courtroom questions. Individuals representing themselves have access to self-represented litigant guides, legal aid organizations, and answers to some frequently asked questions regarding face coverings and Zoom hearings. It is also recommended that self-represented litigants view the information for lawyers.

Jury service in Harris County requires pre-registration. People receiving a jury summons are directed to visit the website of the Harris County District Clerk to begin the process and to receive their juror assignments. To address concerns that prospective jurors may have about serving on a jury in the age of COVID-19, the District Clerk’s Office has prepared a video about jury service at NRG, found under the COVID Precautions tab, explaining what jurors can expect at NRG and the safety protocols that have been implemented. Answers to questions about jury service, in general, including eligibility requirements and statutory exemptions, can be found on the About Jury page. Additional information about jury service, such as what jurors should wear and bring and what they should do in the event of an emergency that prevents them from being able to appear for service, is available on the District Clerk’s website under the Getting Prepared tab. Lastly, the District Clerk has gathered a number of downloadable educational resources that can be used by prospective jurors, teachers, and corporate partners to more fully understand the jury process and to recognize the value of jury service to our community.

COVID-19 in America: Response, Issues, and Law

A couple of weeks ago, we posted information about how you can gain remote access to HeinOnline, a legal research platform that features an extensive collection of law journal articles, United States Congressional documents, several specially-curated libraries, and so much more. Today, we are going to introduce you to one of the newest libraries to be added to the HeinOnline family of databases: COVID-19 in America: Response, Issues, and Law.

Not surprisingly, the coronavirus and the havoc it has wreaked in our global society remain at the forefront of our media conscience. The virus and its deadly disease, COVID-19, has negatively affected not only public health but also practically every economic and business sector, not to mention the loss of human life it has caused. To help researchers understand the impact that this pandemic has had, HeinOnline created its COVID-19 in America database with information derived from reports from the Congressional Research Service and the General Accounting Office. Launched in July 2020, the database examines the effect that COVID-19 has had on America in four distinct areas: economics, global impact, health, and society.

• With much of the country on some form of lockdown and with many workers unable to go to their places of employment, it’s no wonder that the pandemic had a devastating economic toll on most, if not all, business sectors. The Economics section looks at the banking industry’s response, legislative initiatives relating to business interruption insurance, economic impact payments, and reports on rules promulgated by the Small Business Administration.

• The Global Impact portion of the database examines the global economic effects of COVID-19 and policy responses from various nations, including China, Japan, the UK, and other countries within the European Union. Additionally, you can find information about the impact that COVID-19 has had on Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

• Contact tracing, COVID-19 testing, domestic public health response, and vaccine development are just some of the topics about which you can learn in the Health section of the database.

• The Society segment concentrates on some key issues that arose or came into greater focus during the pandemic. Although many of the issues addressed had already existed prior to the arrival of the coronavirus on our shores, many are issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic and gained greater prominence. Examples include the digital divide, domestic violence, and food safety. Other topics discussed in this section include the 2020 Census, the 2020 hurricane season, E-Books and intellectual property issues, and mail voting.

In addition to these four major areas, the database includes links to scholarly articles ranging from articles about disability discrimination and tenants’ rights to due process and access to justice. External links take the user to a Coronavirus Vaccine tracker from the New York Times and a COVID-19 Resources LibGuide from the Legal Information Institute.

As with other libraries found on HeinOnline, COVID-19 in America: Response, Issues, and Law is fully searchable. To help you along, there is a LibGuide with tips for using the main search bar and the advanced search feature. You can narrow your search by date, document type, section type, or title. There are also some general training materials associated with using HeinOnline.

In Celebration of Punctuation

A lot of the work we do as librarians is investigative in nature. Secretly, there are many detectives among us. We are a curious lot who always want to know more. We can also be a fussy bunch who like words and language and who insist on using the most appropriate reference sources to get. things. right. We appreciate the rules of grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation and enjoy discussing the merits of various style guides. Copy editing, at least for this librarian, holds great appeal (as does the lost art of sentence diagramming).

In honor of National Punctuation Day, which falls every year on September 24, we at the Harris County Law Library are paying tribute with a list of resources that highlight the important role of punctuation and grammar in the drafting and interpretation of the law. Few disciplines outside of law rely so heavily on the written word. Disputes over misplaced (or missing) commas, especially in contracts and legislation, and even in the United States Constitution, are just some of the persnickety punctuation problems to plague the process. See below for examples of apostrophe catastrophes, comma bombs, and more.

·         The Law and Punctuation — In Custodia Legis, Law Library of Congress

·         Punctuation and the Law — American Bar Journal

·         Punctuation and the Interpretation of Statutes — Connecticut Law Review

·         How A Comma Gave Americans The Right To Own Guns — Business Insider

·         The Commas That Cost Companies Millions — BBC

·         Commas in Court Cases — Online Writing Training, Mary Morel

·         The Most Expensive Typo in Legislative History — Priceonomics

·         The Supreme Court is Split on Apostrophes — ABA Journal

·         Supreme Court Splits…on Grammar Writing and Style — Scribes Journal of Legal Writing

·         The Apostrophe's Battle Is Mountainous — The Atlantic

CDC Eviction Moritorium Halts Few Harris County Evictions, Faces Challenge in Federal Court

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield signed a declaration at the beginning of September imposing a limited national moratorium on evictions, with the hope that it would help curb the spread of COVID-19 within the United States. As our nation exceeded 200,000 deaths just yesterday, our departed countrymen now account for over 21% of all fatal cases worldwide. The inability of state and local officials around the country to contain the spread of COVID, supporters of the moratorium explain, means the CDC Director is empowered by 42 CFR § 70.2 to take necessary steps toward containment, including a national moratorium on evictions.

The moratorium went into effect on September 4, and runs through December 31. It is supposed to be able to stop an eviction from moving forward if: (1) the tenant has been unable to pay rent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) the tenant would either have to move in with someone in a too-small space, or be homeless, as a result of being evicted; and (3) either makes less than $99,000 per year, or received a stimulus check, or did not have to pay federal income tax in 2019.

Despite the controversy surrounding the eviction moratorium, evictions have continued at a rapidfire clip here in Houston. In fact, a review by Houston Public Media of local evictions during the first week of the moratorium found only one eviction out of 100 in Harris County was prevented by the moratorium.

Indeed, Houston made the national news with this CNN story about local evictions. The five minute clip went viral, as Houston was held up as a microcosm of the economic devastation beginning to take hold in many major American cities.

One reason the CDC moratorium is failing to halt evictions is that struggling tenants are unaware they are only protected by the moratorium if they complete a CDC Declaration.

Another reason is that some landlords have been skipping the courts altogether, relying on time tested strong-arm techniques to remove nonpaying tenants without regard for their rights. Threats and intimidation may be old fashioned, but this method now has a high tech spin, thanks to an app called Civvl. Described by Vice media as “Uber, but for evicting people,” Civvl harnesses the power of the gig economy by allowing landlords to hire anyone willing to advertise themselves as an “eviction crew” to show up at a property, and start dumping the possessions contained within. Tenant rights watchdogs are alarmed, because just as an Uber driver is unlikely to be an expert on the ins-and-outs of traffic law, a gig economy “eviction crew” might be ignorant of local tenant rights, even to the point of unknowingly executing illegal, extrajudicial evictions.

While the efficacy of the CDC moratorium is yet to be fully determined, this has not stopped landlords from teaming together through the National Apartment Association to file suit in federal court, hoping to get the moratorium deemed unconstitutional and thrown out. The initial suit was filed in Georgia, where the CDC is located, on behalf of a landlord in Virginia. This effort has been spearheaded by the non-profit, pro bono, non-partisan law firm the New Civil Liberties Alliance, an organization which exists to “protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State.”

Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg

On Friday, September 18, 2020, the world lost an icon of the legal world, United States Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. To honor her memory, we are re-posting this review of a book in our collection, Notorious RBG. Link back to another blog article, which was posted on her 84th birthday, to read even more about this remarkable woman.

By Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

Published by Dey St., an Imprint of William Morrow Publishers

KF 8745 .G56 C37 2015

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the oft-described unstoppable, passionate, and fiery United States Supreme Court justice, has become something of a cult figure among law students. Empowered by her rage at civil rights violations and the lack of gender equality, these students created a new persona for her, the Notorious R.B.G., and showed their appreciation of her by posting tributes on social media. From this media storm comes Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a new book by the law student who created the Notorious R.B.G. Tumblr and the journalist who interviewed Justice Ginsburg for MSNBC. An illuminating, yet humorous, look into the life, losses, and successes of this diminutive and, at times, underestimated jurist, Notorious RBG captures the essence of this remarkable woman who became only the second woman to serve on our nation’s highest court.

Always a champion of women’s rights and gender equality, Ruth Bader Ginsburg knew first-hand the difficulties that women faced in the workplace and in institutions of higher learning and the pressures associated with gender inequality. She was one of nine women in her class at Harvard Law School and had difficulty getting a job, even though she graduated at the top of her class from Columbia Law School. She was the first woman to teach full-time at Rutgers School of Law and later became Columbia’s first tenured female professor. While at Columbia, she even helped file a class action lawsuit against the university and continued to volunteer her time with the ACLU.

If it is true that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, then the legal writings of Ruth Bader Ginsburg can truly cut to the heart of an issue. Known for her dissents, Justice Ginsburg has always remained steadfast to her beliefs and her desire to correct injustices. Notorious RBG also features excerpts and analyses of some of Justice Ginsburg’s most significant briefs, opinions, and dissents:

• Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971) (a gender discrimination case in which a mother was not entitled to possessions owned by deceased son) ;

• Struck v. Secretary of Defense, 460 F 2d 1372 (1971) (case in which an air force nurse refused to get abortion as required by Air Force regulations) ;

• United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996) (case involving the refusal of Virginia Military Institute to admit women);

• Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007) (case that upheld partial-birth abortion ban);

• Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company 550 U.S. 618 (2014) (an employment discrimination case based on gender) ; and

• Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013) (case dealing with the Voting Rights Act).

The authors also look into her sixty-year relationship with her beloved husband Marty, who passed away in 2010, her unlikely friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia, her ideological opposite, her perfectionism when drafting opinions, her workouts with her personal trainer, and, of course, those lacy jabots she wears on the bench.

There is so much more to Ruth Bader Ginsburg than meets the eye. Learn about her in Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and find out why she is such an Internet sensation.

By the way, in case you didn't know, today (March 15) is RBG's 85 birthday. How fitting that it comes during National Women's History Month.