Eighth Cir. — DIVISION/CIRCUIT-WIDE - Security/Emergency: Hearings

High confidence· verified July 24, 2026Special Set HearingsEighth Judicial Circuit, Second Revised Corona Virus Pandemic Emergency Procedures; Procedures for Phase 2 Transition and Additional Modified Phase 1 Safety Precautions (pp. PDF page 4, PDF page 8) — captured and sha256-hashed 2026-07-24

Summary

2 verbatim requirements on hearings.

Applies to

Eighth Judicial Circuit — DIVISION/CIRCUIT-WIDE - Security/Emergency only. Practices change without notice; the court's own published text controls. Procedural information only; not legal advice.

Requirement

Verbatim from the published source, captured 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. No OCR was used. • AO 11.32 Page 4 Second Revised Corona Virus Pandemic Emergency Procedures Effective: June 1, 2020 v. Urgent matters exclusively addressing parenting or time-sharing plans. vi. Hearings to determine whether an in dividual should be involuntari ly committed under the Baker Act or Marchman Act. vii. Other matters of an urgent or em ergency nature as determined by the Chief Judge at the request of the presiding judge. F. Critical Court Proceedings Def ined – Critical Court P roceedings are defined as: All proceedings related to the current public health emergency, such as violation of quarantine, travel limitations, closing of bu ildings, or curfews, which shall be heard by the Chief Judge or his designee. G. Safety Precautions - Essential or Critical C ourt Proceedings may o nly be conducted with in -person app earances if t he fol lowing saf ety prec autions are employed: i. Hearing times shall be stag gered so that no more than ten (10) people shall be present in the gallery of the courtroom at any time , and only those individuals who are essential to the proceeding are present in the well. ii. All persons in the public areas of the courthouse*, including the courtroom, shall be separated by no less than six feet whenever possible. iii. As directed by the Florida Supreme Court in AOSC20-32, face coverings which cover the nose and mo uth are required for ever yone e ntering the courthouse*, and shall be worn at al l times throughout the public areas of the courth ouse, incl uding the court room. Persons shall be exempted from this requirement upon presentation of a letter from a medical doctor setting forth that the individual cannot safely we ar a face covering due to a verifiable medical condition. *In counties where non-court constitutional officers share space with the court, this provision is applicable only to the judicial portion of the courthouse. • AO 11.33 Page 8 Procedures for Phase 2 Transition Effective: July 6, 2020 E. Physical Distanci ng - All persons in the public are as of the courthouse*, including the courtroom, shall be separated by no less t han six feet whenever possible. F. Staggered Hearing Ti mes - Hearing times for all court evets which include in - person appearances, shall be staggered so that no more than ten (10) people are present in the gallery of the courtroom at any time , and only t hose individuals who are essential to the proceeding are present in the well. G. Cleaning and Disinfecting - Commonly touched surfaces in the courtroom (i.e. podium, mi crophone, tables) shall be disinfected before and a fter individual appearance. H. Vulnerable Individuals - Hearings involving v ulnerable individuals ( defined as anyone 65 years of age or older or a person with a serious underlying medical condition, as identified by the CDC at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019- ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-at-higher-risk.html) shall, up on reque st, be addressed in a separate proceeding in which onl y those persons necessary to address that case are present in the courtroom. I. Prohibition from Entering C ourthouse* - Individuals may be prohibited f rom entering the cou rthouse* if they are not essential to the proceeding they are seeking to attend, and space is limited or unavailable. *In counties where non-court constitutional officers share space with the court, this provision is applicable only to the judicial portion of the courthouse.

Source of truth

AO 11.32 Page 4 Second Revised Corona Virus Pandemic Emergency Procedures Effective: June 1, 2020 v. Urgent matters exclusively addressing parenting or time-sharing plans. vi. Hearings to determine whether an in dividual should be involuntari ly committed under the Baker Act or Marchman Act. vii. Other matters of an urgent or em ergency nature as determined by the Chief Judge at the request of the presiding judge. F. Critical Court Proceedings Def ined – Critical Court P roceedings are defined as: All proceedings related to the current public health emergency, such as violation of quarantine, travel limitations, closing of bu ildings, or curfews, which shall be heard by the Chief Judge or his designee. G. Safety Precautions - Essential or Critical C ourt Proceedings may o nly be conducted with in -person app earances if t he fol lowing saf ety prec autions are employed: i. Hearing times

Official source: 8th Circuit — Administrative Orders
Source health: Healthy · checked July 24, 2026
Effective date: —
Last verified: July 24, 2026benchpath-completeness-2026-07-24

Reviewer note: Source sha256: 09a150cfd086ee131f6e561148d7af713b5ef2cbd7fff5aa65b85dfb2cbe09a7, 20ed9368057f294192e38c90414979d75cdc836e60197cd229cd8c5746f1e1fe. Corpus categories: SPECIAL_SET_OR_EXTENDED_HEARING. Operative status as recorded: CURRENT_DIRECTORY_CURRENT_VERSION. Published during the 2026-07-24 completeness pass.