Today the Court issued a standing order formally cancelling the remaining jury trials scheduled until April 5, 2021. As we noted in our last update, the District of Delaware had already canceled all jury trials through the end of February.
Today's order leaves open the possibility of a jury trial under some circumstances:
discretion . . . remains with each presiding judge to order a jury trial in the event of an emergency or other truly urgent situation . . . .
It's hard to envision, however, what circumstances might lead to an emergency jury trial.
Of course, as the order notes, all other proceedings, including bench trials, have been proceeding smoothly and the response has been very positive overall (both among practitioners and in the public statements that I've heard from the judges).
[Note: If you came here via Google, see our most up-to-date posts under the Trial Calendar tag.]
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