FILED
2022 JUNE 28 CLERK
U.S. DISTRICT COURT
THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF UTAH
IN RE: RENEWAL OF FINDINGS AND
EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION
UNDER THE CARES ACT GENERAL ORDER
22-011
On March 31, 2020, the Court entered General Order 20-011, authorizing and
implementing for up to 90 days certain emergency provisions under the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), H.R. 748.
The Court has since entered a number of General Orders authorizing additional
90 day extensions:
• General Order 20-020 on June 26, 2020
• General Order 20-028 on September 28, 2020
• General Order 20-033 on December 28, 2020
• General Order 21-004 on March 24, 2021
• General Order 21-006 on June 21, 2021
• General Order 21-014 on October 1, 2021
• General Order 22-001 on January 4, 2022
• General Order 22-007 on April 1, 2022
As explained more fully in General Order 22-010, entered June 28, 2022, the
COVID-19 pandemic continues to present a nationwide public health emergency. The
emergency declaration adopted by the President of the United States in 2020 remains
in place, and the Judicial Conference of the United States has found that emergency
conditions due to the national COVID-19 crisis have affected and continue to materially
affect the operations of the federal courts. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
continues to promulgate guidance concerning public health risks and recommended
safety measures. The pandemic remains a global, national, and local threat.
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Conditions in the District of Utah improved significantly in the wake of the spring
Omicron variant surge and rapid decline. However, Salt Lake County and other parts of
the State of Utah have seen exceptional community spread over the last couple months.
At the time this General Order is entered, the CDC concludes Salt Lake County is in the
Red (highest) risk level. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose serious health
risks to the Court and the District of Utah more broadly. These risks are especially
acute for in-custody defendants in criminal cases. Particularly relevant to judicial
operations in the District of Utah, local jails with whom the United States Marshal
Service contracts for pretrial and post-sentencing detention continue to experience case
surges requiring quarantine of federal inmates. The local jails remain particularly
susceptible to rapid spread of the disease, which causes the availability of federal
detainees for in-person hearings to constantly change.
The vast majority of federal detainees held in the local jails in the District have for
at least the last year voluntarily exercised their right under the emergency provisions of
the CARES Act to waive their right to appear in person for critical hearings. This
reflects the continuing reality that transportation in and out of the jail facilities presents
health risks to our detained defendants and those servicing the local jails. In-person
hearings also expose our federal detainees to elevated risk of unwanted quarantine or
isolation, and other consequences defendants want to avoid.
For the reasons articulated in General Order 22-006, and further supported by
the COVID-19 related findings made by the Court in the recently issued General Order
22-010, exercising my authority as Chief Judge, I find that the emergency provisions
under Section 15002(b) of the CARES Act remain necessary and appropriate in the
District of Utah. I renew the findings made in General Orders 20-011, 20-020, 20-028,
20-033, 21-004, 21-006, 21-014, 22-001, and 22-007, and extend the authorizations
made therein for 90 days unless earlier terminated or modified by further order of the
Court.
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SO ORDERED this 28th day of June, 2022.
BY THE COURT:
_____________________________________
ROBERT J. SHELBY
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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