Colorado justices weigh constitutional implications of livestreaming criminal trials

Colorado Politics: With the Sixth Amendment guaranteeing criminal defendants the right to a public trial, members of the Colorado Supreme Court grappled on Tuesday with a question that may have never arisen without a global pandemic: If a judge requires spectators to watch the trial remotely, is there a constitutional violation?

In a pair of cases stemming from pandemic-era trials, the justices considered whether to render a decision using existing legal principles and the specific facts of each criminal proceeding, or to get in front of further technological changes that may unfold in the near future.

“I’m very wary of writing an opinion,” said Justice Melissa Hart, “that ignores the possibility that in the future, a courtroom will be virtual. … We’re careening towards a world where things are happening online.”

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