Legal Aid public defender Martha Lineberger penned an op-ed pushing back on NYC’s reckless and dangerous rush to reopen in-person court proceedings in today’s City Limits.

Touching on her experiences over the past several months dealing with the virus – including testing positive for COVID-19 – and her intimate knowledge of the court system, Lineberger asserts that the court’s insistence on returning to “normal,” in-person operations represents “an unnecessary mistake [. . .] that will have fatal consequences.”

“It’s hard to create trust with a client, to convince a judge or a prosecutor by yelling into my laptop, over my AC and theirs, from my kitchen. But it’s safe. Safe for clients, colleagues, adversaries, and the court staff,” Lineberger writes. “It’s not worth holding in-person court just to say that it’s being done—not until it’s safe to return to court.”

Read the full piece here.