A writ petition filed Wednesday that seeks to “substantially reduce and safeguard youth populations in juvenile halls and camps” because of the COVID-19 pandemic has gotten the Supreme Court’s initial and immediate attention.
In All Youth Detained in Juvenile Halls and Camps in Los Angeles County v. Superior Court, the petitioners — Center for Juvenile Law and Policy at Loyola Law School and Independent Juvenile Defender Office of the Los Angeles County Bar Association — seek, among other things, an “immediate release of certain categories of youth in confinement” and “expedited review and presumptive release of all other youth.”
Yesterday the court asked for a fast informal response to the writ petition. The response is due today by 5:00 p.m. A reply can be filed by noon on Monday.
The court said, “No requests for extension of time are contemplated or will be granted.” We’re guessing this means the deadlines are not altered by the court’s emergency order that “extends by 30 days the time periods specified by the California Rules of Court for acts or events in proceedings before this court otherwise due to occur between March 20, 2020 and April 20, 2020, inclusive” (see here). Although the time for preliminary oppositions to writ petitions is governed by the rules of court, the emergency order also says, “The court retains discretion to disallow an extension of time or to order that an action be taken or an event occur within another specified time frame, as appropriate,” and it sounds like the court has exercised that discretion in this writ proceeding.