Seals of the Court of Appeals and Superior Court
District of Columbia Courts

The DC Courts Operating Under an Emergency Schedule

Due to scheduled First Amendment activity downtown, that includes the area around the DC Courts Campus, The DC Courts will be ‘Open on an Emergency Schedule’ Tuesday, March 1, 2022 through Friday, March 4, 2022.

Under an Emergency Schedule within the DC Courts:

  • Juvenile New Referral (JM-15), Adult Arraignment Court (C-10), and Preventive Detention hearing courtrooms within DC Superior Court will operate remotely or partially remotely. (Court personnel supporting these operations must arrive in sufficient time to ensure that cases proceed as normal.)
  • All remote oral arguments in the DC Court of Appeals and remote hearings in DC Superior Court will proceed at the originally scheduled time. (Judges in Superior Court will call all detained matters remotely with the defendants’ presence waived for rescheduling or handling legal matters that can be handled without the defendant.
  • Public counters in the DC Court of Appeals will be open while the public counters in DC Superior Court will be closed.
  • Criminal trials currently in progress in DC Superior Court will proceed, but may be suspended on short notice.
  • Jurors currently empaneled in jury trials at DC Superior Court and those participating in grand jury proceedings must report as scheduled unless notified by an official of the Superior Court’s Juror Office or the judge presiding over the ongoing trial.
  • Any trials scheduled for jury selection in DC Superior Court this week will not proceed.
  • Employees who are teleworking are required to work from their flexplace worksites and commence work at the beginning of their tours of duty.