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38 verbatim mandatory provisions from Administrative Orders.
Eighteenth Judicial Circuit. Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
• WHEREAS, pursuant to the chief judge’s constitutional and statutory responsibility for administrative supervision of the courts within the circuit and to create and maintain an organization capable of effecting the efficient, prompt, and proper administration of justice for the citizens of the State, the chief judge is required to exercise direction, see Fla.R.Jud.Admin. 2.215(b)(2), (b)(3); and WHEREAS, Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.450 governs the use of technology in judicial proceedings and vests the presiding judge with broad authority to control the conduct of proceedings before the court, maintain decorum, prevent distractions, and ensure the safety and security of persons and property; and WHEREAS, the lack of a uniform, state-wide definition for media that has kept pace with the dramatic and rapidly evolving use of new technologies, forums and mediums for gathering and disseminating information and news to the public has posed significant challenges. • Therefore, the media must be required to display a court- issued media authorization card for the privilege of using equipment that is not generally allowed otherwise. 1 As used herein, the word “courtroom” includes courtrooms, hearing rooms and any other roomsused to conduct court proceedings, unless specifically stated otherwise. These court-issued media authorization cards are the most effective and least burdensome method available to allow court security to instantly identify those who may utilize certain specified equipment without unduly interfering with their primary duty of providing security; and WHEREAS, special interest/high visibility proceedings may require procedures and special accommodations to ensure media full access without compromising the right of any litigant to a fair and orderly trial; • An online entity which was a previously established, independent site that contains regularly updated original news content above and beyond links, forums, troubleshooting tips and reader contributions; said content is thoroughly reviewed by an independent editor before publication; has a readership of more than 1,000 hits per month; and has previously covered the judicial branch for the six (6) months immediately prior to requesting authorization cards. • The requesting media entity must show proof it meets the definition of media. • To obtain media authorization cards2, those media entities meeting the definition as set forth in section I(a)2 above must submit the following, as well as any additional information which may be requested. 1. • Proof the judicial branch or the case at issue has been covered for at least six months prior to the date of request. • If a media representative loses his or her authorization card, he or she must immediately notify Court Administration. • Application must be made to Court Administration to receive media authorization cards. • Media authorization cards must be surrendered at the direction of the presiding judge, Court Administration, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, or at the end of the two (2) year renewal period. • All media representatives must read this Administrative Order and Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.450 governing technological coverage of judicial proceedings. • All media representatives must at all times display official media credentials/authorization card obtained in accordance with section IC above. • All media representatives must exhibit proper courtroom decorum, dress appropriately, place pagers and cell phones in silent mode, and refrain from eating, drinking or chewing gum in proceedings. • Additional cameras and recording devices, including those not turned on or recording, must remain outside the courtroom. • Use of an “on-board” microphone is prohibited by anyone, including the pool camera. • Cabling of extension cords and power supplies is prohibited in the courtroom, except by the pool camera. • All set-up and breakdown of cameras and recording devices must be done when court is not in session. • Cameras and recording devices must operate silently and not produce distracting light. • Media representatives shall not engage in any movement or discussions during proceedings that attracts undue attention. • Any interviews must be conducted outside the courtroom. G. • For court proceedings held outside of the courthouse, such as jury viewings of the scene of the crime, the media shall comply with the instructions of the presiding judge and the local Sheriff’s Office. • The video pool camera operator must provide BNC and XLR cables to feed signal into the courtroom media panel to serve as a pool camera. • The pool operator must contact the AV Department at the number listed on the panel, regardless of whether any other media entity is present at the courthouse facilities, to coordinate routing of the signal to other media. • Placement or use of additional microphones is prohibited without prior approval of the presiding judge. • Still photographers serving as the pool must coordinate with other media to share pool video footage, photographs, and other recordings. • Use of portable signal distribution systems (e.g., portable microwave systems) is prohibited within the courthouse facility without advance notice to the Chief Judge and Court Administration. • Media representatives may not cover “side bar” or “bench” conferences. • There shall be no recording or broadcast of conferences that occur in court between attorneys and their clients, or between co-counsel of a client, or between counsel and the presiding judge held at the bench. • To prevent interference with court proceedings and protect an interested party’s rights, no interviews shall be permitted in the presence of the jury or any potential juror. • No interviews shall be permitted within any courthouse facility which unreasonably interferes with the safety, security, or movement of persons in any courtroom, doorway, hallway, and other areas of any courthouse facility, or which disrupts any court proceeding. • Additionally, media personnel shall not station themselves or their equipment in public areas of the courthouse in any manner that unreasonably interferes with the safety, security, or movement of persons or which is disruptive to any court proceeding to be determined on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of Court Administration or the Sheriff’s Department. • Further, when court is not in session, media may not film in courtrooms without prior permission from Court Administration. • Special access to these areas is prohibited without express permission by the Court. • The Sheriff’s Office shall confiscate devices that are being used in violation of this Administrative Order. • The committee shall consist of at least one print media representative, one television broadcast media representative, and one audio broadcast representative, as well as a member of Court Administration who will act as a liaison between the Court and the media for the duration of the case. • Any person seeking to engage in oral protest, display a sign to express his or her opinion as to any subject, or otherwise wishing to express an opinion on any subject, on the grounds of any of the courthouses in Brevard or Seminole County, Florida shall be restricted to conducting such activity in the areas described in this order. • Any party to any suit, alleged victim of any crime or his/her attorney, agent or representative seeking to make any public statement or otherwise engage in a press conference on any subject, on the grounds of any of the courthouses in Brevard County or Seminole County, Florida shall be restricted to conducting such activity in the areas described in this order. 2. • Under no circumstances shall anyone interfere with the rights of any other person to lawfully enter and leave any of the three (3) courthouses in Brevard County, Florida or any of the three (3) courthouses in Seminole County, Florida 4. • Protesters may not encroach on the walkways on the east and west main entry doors from the sidewalks to the building, or the reserved employee parking lot located on the south side of the building.
WHEREAS, pursuant to the chief judge’s constitutional and statutory responsibility for administrative supervision of the courts within the circuit and to create and maintain an organization capable of effecting the efficient, prompt, and proper administration of justice for the citizens of the State, the chief judge is required to exercise direction, see Fla.R.Jud.Admin. 2.215(b)(2), (b)(3); and WHEREAS, Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.450 governs the use of technology in judicial proceedings and vests the presiding judge with broad authority to control the conduct of proceedings before the court, maintain decorum, prevent distractions, and ensure the safety and security of persons and property; and WHEREAS, the lack of a uniform, state-wide definition for media that has kept pace with the dramatic and rapidly evolving use of new technologies, forums and mediums for gathering a
Reviewer note: Document sha256: ef4b53473e32a87420cf66fb7361ebbfaf89905f1c65820dbdada52354b82453 (267877 bytes). BenchPath harvested this circuit itself because no research corpus existed for it. Extraction is conservative: mandatory-language sentences only, so this rule is a faithful subset of the order, never a summary of it. Text layer cleaned 2026-09-08 (Phase 3a): page markers removed; wording untouched. Verbatim from the order's own text layer, harvested 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. No OCR was used. Only sentences containing mandatory language (shall, must, may not, no later than, within N) are reproduced — the full document is in custody and is the controlling text. [moved from the text 2026-09-14]
9 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-10.
6 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-13.