By Melanie Deeds
Legal News
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday adopted an amendment to court rules to explicitly allow the public to bring cell phones into courthouses and courtrooms.
Current rules regarding cell phones and other personal electronic devices vary widely from court to court, the court noted in a news release.
The order issued by the court concluded with a four-page dissent by Justice Stephen J. Markman.
Markman said he was concerned about disruption in the courtroom “from the inevitable and distracting beeps, buzzes and personalized ringtones coming from unsilenced phones,” an occurance he said would undermine “the orderliness and propriety of the judicial process.”
The changes approved by the court also would allow the public to photograph court records.
Courts have until May 1 to implement the rule change, the court said.
“The comments we received and testimony we heard that cell phone access was essential to self-represented litigants was compelling,” said Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack. “We appreciate the willingness of local courts to
implement this reform that will help make sure the doors to our courts are open to all.”
The MSC order makes amendments to MCR 8.115 and follows an extensive process of public consultation that included nearly 50 written comments from the public and additional testimony at a recent public hearing.
Effective May 1, the amended rules establish a statewide policy that allows the public to use a cell phone or other personal electronic device in a courtroom or courthouse (such as a tablet or laptop) to:
• retrieve or store information, access the internet, and send/receive text messages as long as the user is silent; and,
• reproduce court documents as long as it leaves no marks and does not unreasonably interfere with the operation of the clerk’s office.
The amended rule does include courtroom restrictions to maintain security and prevent disruption.
Devices must be silenced in the courtroom and cannot be used to make or receive calls while court is in session.
Among other restrictions, the public:
• cannot communicate with any courtroom participant or photograph or record any juror or potential juror;
• cannot record court proceedings without the permission of the judge; and,
• cannot record or photograph people in the courthouse without their consent.
Outside the courtroom, judges and court administrators can limit or terminate activity that is disruptive to court operations or that compromises court security.
In the courtroom, use is subject to a judge’s authority to terminate activity that is disruptive or distracting to a court proceeding, or contrary to the administration of justice.
Further, judges can sanction violators.
The change was largely based on national models already adopted in other states, according to the court.
In his dissent, Markman said the court should have given “more regard for the proposition that criminal and civil trials taking place in these courtrooms must proceed in a manner ensuring that their participants — judges, jurors, litigants, witnesses, atorneys and court staff — be accommodated as much as reasonably possible in the stressful circumstances under which each carries out responsibilities in the pursuit of justice under law.
In adopting the rule change, he said, the court “gives greater regard to a modest increase in personal convenience than to the traditional sanctity of the courtroom and the security of jurors and witnesses
“In pursuing this course,” Markman said, “we also give inadequate consideration and deference to the opinions and concerns of the judges of this state who will be on the front lines of confronting the problems associated with these phones and who will be held resonsible for enforcing what many of them recognize to be a practically unenforceable rule.”
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