Sacramento courts close as state goes into coronavirus lockdown
Sacramento Superior Court will close its courthouses until March 30 as a countywide order to stay at home and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration of a statewide lockdown to slow the spread of new coronavirus cases were announced Thursday.
“All courthouses and courtrooms shall be closed,” the order, released just after 6 p.m. Thursday, read. “All criminal and civil matters not expressly excepted are suspended.”
Sacramento Superior Court presiding Judge Russell Hom’s emergency order shuts down all court business except for “certain limited and expressly enumerated emergency matters.”
Those include civil harassment restraining orders and restraining orders related to domestic violence and gun violence, search warrants, bail setting, emergency protective orders and emergency petitions for temporary conservatorship and guardianship.
Services for search warrants, emergency juvenile orders and writs regarding virus emergency measures and medical quarantines will also continue.
Hom closed the suburban Carol Miller Justice Center near Folsom Boulevard and Highway 50 as well as civil walk-up stations at downtown Sacramento’s Gordon Schaber Courthouse and Hall of Justice as part of a drawdown earlier in the week.
Superior courts across the state have dramatically drawn down their operations in recent days in efforts to help control the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, and superior courts including Sonoma and Contra Costa have shut down operations.
Los Angeles Superior Court, the nation’s largest trial court, shuttered its doors for two days this week. Two of its 38 courthouses will open Friday for “essential and emergency functions,” according to information on its website.
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