Remote Access to Court Proceedings

 Requests for Zoom access may be submitted in civil cases only, and not for jury trials.

Please check the judge's calendar or email the courtroom deputy to see if a particular hearing is already scheduled to occur by Zoom. If not, submit your request to view the hearing by Zoom.

Civil hearings and bench and jury trials in the Northern District may be recorded by court staff and published to a webpage for viewing or download by the general public.

• Request to Record a Hearing
• Objection to a Hearing Recording Request Form

Judges Participating in Recording of Court Proceedings

• Alsup
• Breyer
• Chen
• Chesney
• Chhabria
• Donato
• Freeman
• Gonzalez Rogers
• Illston
• Lin
• Martínez-Olguín
• Orrick
• Pitts
• Tigar
• White
• Wilken

Procedures

Hearings and trials in any civil case assigned to a judge participating in the Pilot Project are eligible for video recording, upon request and with the consent of the parties and the presiding judge. The judges currently participating in the Pilot Project are listed on this page.

• Requests for video recording must be submitted at least 21 calendar days before a scheduled hearing date. Blanket requests or objections submitted before any matter is scheduled will be rejected. Requests to record matters scheduled without 21 days' lead time are considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Requests to record may be made by the judge, any party to the case, a member of the public, or the media.
• Once a Request for Video Recording is submitted for a particular matter on a participating judge's calendar, a Notice of Request for Video Recording will be filed on the case docket.
• Consent to recording will be presumed unless a party submits an Objection to Video Recording by the deadline (typically 7 calendar days of the date the Notice of Request for Video Recording is filed). Objections must be emailed to the address on the form; they are not e-filed nor are they part of the public record in a case.
• A party may object to the recording of all or a portion of the proceeding or of only a certain witness or witnesses.
• After the period for submitting objections has passed, a Notice Regarding Video Recording will be filed on the case docket to inform the parties, the requester and the public whether the proceeding, or a portion of it, will be recorded.

After a proceeding is video recorded, it will be made available to the public on the U.S. Courts Cameras in Courts web page (USCourts.gov). Videos will be made available as soon as possible, but the Court cannot provide exact dates or guarantee quality.

The presiding judge always maintains the discretion not to record any or all of a proceeding or not to publish any or all of a proceeding that has been recorded. Logistical issues such as availability of equipment and staff may also prevent recording.

Questions regarding the Northern District's participation in the Pilot Project should be directed to cameras@cand.uscourts.gov. Additional information about the Pilot Project can be found at the U.S. Courts Cameras in Courts web page (USCourts.gov).

IMPORTANT:  Smart phones CANNOT be used for interpreting in court hearings.

When your are interpreting a hearing on Zoom, you will be joining the hearing as an Attendee and be promoted to the role of Panelist.  When the hearing begins, the Courtroom Deputy will provide interpretation instructions to the participants.  During this period, you are to provide consecutive interpretation for the individual(s) receiving interpretation services.

Assignment Confirmation

Once the Courtroom Deputy turns on interpretation tools, you will receive a notification informing you that you have been selected to interpret.  This will include the language channels selected for you. You should confirm the notification when it's presented.

Toggle Between Languages

When you accept the role of Interpreter, you will see a toggle switch that displays English and the alternative language.  When addressing the court, click English.  When addressing the individual receiving interpretation services, select the alternative language channel.

Important Details

• Hearing recordings of interpretation sessions only record the original audio (English) channel, not the translations.
• If you are working with another interpreter, you will be unable to hear them unless your coordinate a listening option on another device.  Zoom does not allow interpreters to hear one another so that a meeting can be translated into many languages simultaneously.
• Some proceedings require consecutive interpretation due to technical limitations. For these, you will join the Zoom hearing as a panelist and interpret similar to an open party-line call.

Learning Resources

• Zoom’s online information outlining the interpretation process.

Attending Hearings with Language Interpretation from a Computer

1. When the Courtroom Deputy turns on the Interpretation function, click the Interpretation “globe” icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. Click the language you want to hear (i.e., Spanish).*
3. Click “Mute Original Audio” to silence all other languages.*
4. When interpretation services are complete click “Off”.

NOTE: If interpretation is in progress, all languages will be heard if either language selection is Off, or if Mute Original Language is Off.

Attending Hearings with Language Interpretation from a Smart Phone or Tablet

1. Tap the … (ellipses) More button.
2. Tap Language Interpretation.
3. Then tap on the language you want to hear. (i.e., Spanish).*
4. Tap the slider to “Mute Original Audio” to silence all other languages.*
5. When interpretation services are complete tap “Off”.

NOTE: If interpretation is in progress, all languages will be heard if language selection is off, or if Mute Original Language is off.

NOTE:  Some proceedings may provide phone-only connectivity via Zoom or other means.  Check the case docket for details.