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News & Announcements: 2021-04
Check this page, or the News and Announcements box on the homepage, for the latest official news and announcements released by the court. You can also access archived news and announcements from this page.
April 9, 2021
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently hosted essay and poster contests to celebrate the Bill of Rights. High school students from across the Eastern District of Louisiana participated in the contests. U.S. District Judges, Barry Ashe and Wendy Vitter, U.S. Magistrate Judges, Janis van Meerveld, Dana Douglas, and Donna Currault, and Federal Bar Association members, Erin Arnold, Benjamin de Seingalt, Michael Dodson, Jessica Engler, and Gregory Grimsal, volunteered to judge the essay and poster entries. The winning essays and posters were announced at a Zoom event hosted by Chief U.S. District Judge, Nannette Jolivette Brown, and the event was attended by judges, attorney-facilitators, and participating students. To view the contest winners and their entries, please select this link.
April 6, 2021
On March 23, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana sponsored a Women’s History Month Celebration entitled, “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Her Lasting Legacy.” Dr. Sally Kenney, Executive Director of Newcomb Institute, Newcomb College Endowed Chair Professor, and leading expert on women in the judiciary, served as keynote speaker. Dr. Kenney spoke about Justice Ginsburg’s career as a gender equity advocate as well as her tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court bench, and highlighted the justice’s approach to affecting change, an approach imbued with civility and long-range focus. The event was moderated by the Honorable Nannette Jolivette Brown, Chief U.S. District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and co-sponsored by the following organizations: Association for Women Attorneys, Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, New Orleans Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Association, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and the U.S. Probation Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. To view a video of the event, please select this link.
April 5, 2021
To combat the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), given the severity of risks posed to the public, Court staff, and other Court agencies, and considering the public health recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the undersigned Chief Judge for United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana hereby issues this order, which amends COVID-19 General Order No. 20-6, COVID-19 General Order No. 20-9, COVID-19 General Order No. 20-10, COVID-19 General Order No. 20-13, and COVID-19 General Order No. 21-1 (attached as Exhibit A to this Order and incorporated herein by reference) to extend certain deadlines addressed therein as follows.
1. All civil and criminal jury trials are suspended until June 7, 2021 and will be reset by each presiding judge. Those continuances do not continue any pending deadlines other than the trial dates. Attorneys should contact the presiding judges in their continued cases if they seek to modify such other deadlines.
2. With regard to criminal matters, due to the Court’s reduced ability to obtain an adequate spectrum of jurors and the effect of the recommendations of the health organizations mentioned in Exhibit A on the ability of counsel and Court staff to be present in the courtroom, the time period of the postponements implemented by this administrative order will be excluded under the Speedy Trial Act, as the Court specifically finds that the ends of justice served by ordering the postponements outweigh the best interest of the public and any defendant’s right to a speedy trial, pursuant to 18 U.S.C.§ 3161(h)(7)(A).
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