Most of the federal trials that have actually been held during the pandemic have been in rural locales. But yesterday, Judge William Orrick in San Francisco launched an in-person criminal jury trial in a mail-bombing case. Jury selection began with a SurveyMonkey questionnaire. The courtroom is closed to the public but the audio is being broadcast over Zoom to all interested observers.

Meanwhile, Cleveland saw its first pandemic jury trial end Friday after five days with the acquittal of an accused murderer. The state court trial was held in a large conference room in the county-owned Global Center for Health Innovation. Everyone was masked except for testifying witnesses. Jurors sat six feet apart behind a plexiglass shield and with shields between them.