Lawsuit against Allegheny County judge over virtual access dismissed

A lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations against an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge has been formally dismissed.

In March, the Abolitionist Law Center’s Court Watch program sued Judge Anthony M. Mariani in federal court alleging that he was refusing to provide access to proceedings before him.

The program alleged that its court watchers had requested virtual access to more than 100 proceedings in Mariani’s courtroom, but he refused them each time.

However, a few days after the lawsuit was filed, Mariani began granting remote access.

In late March, court administrators issued an order requiring all Common Pleas and magistrate judges to continue to offer the public access to remote proceedings through June 30.

Nicolas Riley, whose Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center filed the complaint, said the lawsuit accomplished what it set out to do.

“We’re glad that the lawsuit ultimately compelled Judge Mariani to honor the public’s First Amendment right of access to court proceedings, and we hope that the court takes that right seriously moving forward,” Riley said. “The public is entitled to know what’s happening inside their courtrooms and how their judges are conducting themselves.”

Riley said the lawsuit helped shine a much-needed light on what happens inside Allegheny County’s courtrooms.

Autumn Redcross, the director of Court Watch, said her organization is pleased by the outcome as they continue to work to “educate and move towards change.

“Justice must be seen,” she said. “Accessibility and transparency are fundamental to democracy.”

A staff member in Mariani’s chambers said he had no comment.

At the start of the covid-19 pandemic last year, the state Supreme Court declared a judicial emergency. And while Allegheny County’s court administrators encouraged the judges to use video conferencing to limit the number of people in the courthouse, not all judges complied.

In some cases, although they were holding hearings virtually, the courts were not providing the public access to those.

Riley’s group, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, sent repeated letters requesting access.

It wasn’t until January, when they threatened to sue the courts, that administration set up an online request form to allow the public to request access to remote hearings — provided it is made by at least 9 a.m. the business day prior.