Supreme Court will continue video arguments until November 2021

The impact of the COVID-19 virus on California's highest court will linger for at least another 14 months.

The state Supreme Court will continue holding virtual oral arguments for the remainder of this year and does not plan to travel away from its San Francisco headquarters until November 2021, according to Judicial Council spokesperson Cathal Conneely.

The state Supreme Court suspended in-person oral argument in March, with a few justices in the court's San Francisco chambers wearing masks per city guidelines, while other justices asked questions from home without masks.

When oral arguments resume next month, the high court will continue its remote hearings, which have become less awkward as justices and lawyers have grown accustomed to the technology. And justices may be getting impatient with standing orders that allowed attorneys to give uninterrupted opening statements of five minutes, unlike the in-person format that often drew quick questions from the bench.

On Wednesday, California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye issued a new standing order reducing the opening statements from five minutes to two. Conneely said the court will consider in December whether to modify the rules again concerning remote proceedings and in-person access.

While the court usually travels to Los Angeles and Sacramento for oral argument sessions during the year, that won't happen for a while. The November and December arguments will be virtual this year, with justices in San Francisco or at home.

Oral arguments will remain in San Francisco or virtual through most of 2021, with the first trek elsewhere scheduled for November 2021 in Sacramento. The December 2021 oral argument calendar is scheduled for Los Angeles.

Conneely said the goal is to save money, by reducing expenditures on travel, accommodation, security, and related expenses for the justices and court staff -- though the actual amount of savings was unclear. Courts in California face steep cutbacks in the coming year with many superior courts already announcing reduced hours and closed courthouses.

The state Supreme Court's plans, while not surprising, reinforce the havoc COVID-19 is wreaking not only with the logistics of holding hearings but also with the problems it is creating for the state budget.

And high court hearings are comparatively simple endeavors, requiring only the logistical capacity to put the seven justices on a teleconference along with two attorneys, and occasionally a third.

The format resembles the old "Hollywood Squares" TV game show, but justices don't have to worry about the complications of trials -- which involve elaborate plans to safely move jurors in and out of courtrooms, objections to mask usage, or videoconferences that have drawn repeated objections from defense attorneys who complain about glitches or mistakes.