SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 26, No. 10 

New Online Curriculum for State Courts on 

Unaccompanied Immigrant Children 

Unaccompanied 

Immigrant Children 

Curriculum 

1 

CCJ and COSCA 

Pandemic Benchbook 

1 - 2 

Georgia Court Manager Training 2 

New Nominations to 

the SJI Board 

3 

A new online curriculum has been developed to help 

state courts understand how to process the increasing 

numbers of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) 

coming into the United States. 

Over the last several years, the number of UACs from 

Central America has been steadily rising, and this 

trend is anticipated to lead to an increase in filings in 

state juvenile courts on behalf of UACs seeking court 

findings to support applications for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. With SJI support, the Center 

for Public Policy Studies and the National Center for 

State Courts developed the Unaccompanied Immigrant Children in the State Courts online curriculum. 

The online curriculum will increase understanding 

among state court judges, court administrators, and 

court stakeholders about: 1) federal immigration law, 

policy, and practice, and the impact on state courts of 

cases involving UACs; 2) how the work of the state 

courts in cases involving UACs intersects with the 

needs of the federal immigration system; 3) the different types of cases and matters where UACs might 

appear in state courts; and 4) the potential role of the 

state courts in providing factual findings in cases 

July 2016 

involving UACs. The contents of the curriculum 

include an inventory of core elements that should be 

included in educational programs for state court 

practitioners when working with UACs, along with 

variations in the core elements that target the needs 

of state-court-level trial-court-level, and juvenileand dependency-court-focused programs. Also 

available on the site are downloadable PDFs of the 

Guide for State Courts in Cases Involving Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, and the Unaccompanied 

Immigrant Children and the State Courts quick reference information card. 

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Pandemic Benchbook Now Available 

The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and 

Conference of State Court Administrators 

(COSCA) Pandemic and Emergency Response 

Task Force has recently published a new tool for 

courts titled, Preparing for a Pandemic: An 

Emergency Response Benchbook and Operational Guidebook for State Court Judges and Administrators. This project was supported by SJI. 

Facilitated with expertise provided by the National 

Center for State Courts (NCSC), the Task Force 

highlights emergency preparedness as a necessary 

Continued on page 2 
Page 2 

SJI Newsletter Volume 26, No. 10 July 2016 

element of the court 

planning process. The 

objective is to prompt 

state and local court 

leaders without an existing pandemic 

benchbook to create 

one and keep it regularly updated, and their 

judicial officers and 

court staff trained. The 

benchbook briefly 

touches on recent natural disaster and public 

health crises where 

courts and their partners worked together to 

Georgia AOC Offers Training for Court Managers 

The Georgia Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) partnered with 

the Institute for Court Management (ICM), the education and training 

arm of the National Center for State Courts, to bring the Certified Court 

Manager (CCM) program to Georgia. Through a Curriculum Adaptation 

and Training Grant received from SJI, the AOC was able to re-launch a 

robust court management training effort that had largely been decentralized during the recession. 

The CCM is the first of two certifications in ICM’s Court Management 

Program (CMP). Initially, in-state court administrators and AOC staff 

became certified as faculty, allowing wider presentation of ICM courses 

in Georgia through a combination of Georgia’s own freshly minted faculty, and occasional ICM faculty. Presently, the AOC has worked to 

disseminate more information about available ICM courses needed to 

complete the CMP’s Certified Court Manager credential and offer multiple sessions, inclusive of virtual modalities, of the Court Performance 

Standards - CourTools, Fundamental Issues of Caseflow Management, 

and Managing Court Financial Resources courses. 

The Georgia Council of Court Administrators (GCCA) signed on as a 

partner for this training initiative in an effort to strengthen its existing 

Georgia Certified Court Manager Program. This program offers a 40-

hour early career certificate, followed by an additional 60 hours to complete a 100-hour certificate. Up to 25 hours of this second certificate 

may be obtained through non-GCCA courses, such as those offered by 

ICM. GCCA President and ICM Fellow, T.J. BeMent, noted that this 

ICM curriculum will be part of a statewide effort to continue professional and ethical training of the Georgia’s court managers. 

For more information about how the AOC is coordinating and deploying court management training through this grant, contact Stephanie 

Hines, AOC Human Resources Manager and EEO Officer. 

ensure continuity of operations. 

One of the features of the benchbook is its informed perspective that the 

Task Force assembled through both and extensive literature review and 

a visit to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska 

Medicine’s biocontainment unit. The Guide addresses a cadre of specific legal issues, authority, and notification that must occur. Content by 

chapter includes the following: 

Continued from page 1 

Chapter 1 – Jurisdiction of Public Health Issues 

Chapter 2 - Executive Branch Authority in a Public Health Emergency 

Chapter 3 - Searches, Seizures, and Other Government Actions to 

Ensure Public Health 

Chapter 4 - Proceedings Regarding Limitations on Individual Liberties and the Rights of Petitioners 

Chapter 5 - Model Orders and Court Rules 

After detailed appendices and references, which provide extensive content regarding the nature of a pandemic caused by biological hazards, 

examples of quarantine processes, and the order of agencies which 

should be notified and enlisted for assistance, Part II offers a template 

for a benchbook that addresses the legal questions that could arise during a pandemic. Some of the key issues addressed in the template include: Implications for the Courts; Powers of the Chief Justice or State 

Court of Last Resort; Appearance of Individuals Posing a Potential 

Threat to Public Health; Juror Management Considerations; Additional 

Judicial Personnel; Consolidation of Cases; Emergency Court Closure 

and Relocation of Court; Limiting Public Access to the Courts; Communication; and, Technology Preparedness 

The Guide was dedicated in memory of former Arkansas Chief Justice 

Jim Hannah, who served as CCJ President when this grant was awarded 

and whose leadership formed the Pandemic Response Task Force. 
Page 3 

SJI Board of Directors

Chair 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

Vice Chair

Daniel J. Becker 

State Court Administrator 

Utah AOC 

Salt Lake City, UT 

Secretary 

Gayle A. Nachtigal 

Senior Circuit Court Judge 

Washington County Circuit Court 

Hillsboro, OR 

Treasurer 

Hernan D. Vera 

Principal 

Bird Marella P.C. 

Los Angeles, CA 

Jonathan Lippman 

Chief Judge of New York (ret.) 

New York Court of Appeals 

New York, NY 

David V. Brewer 

Justice 

Oregon Supreme Court 

Salem, OR 

Wilfredo Martinez 

County Judge 

9th Judicial Circuit of Florida 

Orlando, FL 

Marsha J. Rabiteau 

Executive Director 

Legal Policy Strategies Group 

Bloomfield, CT 

John B. Nalbandian 

Partner 

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP 

Cincinnati, OH 

Isabel Framer 

President 

Language Access Consultants, LLC 

Copley, OH

Jonathan D. Mattiello 

Executive Director 

The State Justice Institute is a federallyfunded, non-profit corporation established by 

federal law in 1984 to improve the quality of 

justice in the state courts. 

SJI Newsletter Volume 26, No. 10 July 2016 

President Nominates Two Chief Justices 

To Serve on SJI Board 

President Obama recently nominated Chief Justice John Minton 

from Kentucky, and Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera from Maryland, to serve on the SJI Board of Directors. Both must be confirmed by the Senate. 

John Minton has held the position of Chief Justice since 2008. He 

has served on the Kentucky Supreme Court since 2006. Previously, 

he served as a Judge on the Kentucky Court of Appeals from 2003 

to 2006. From 1992 to 2003, he was a Circuit Judge in Kentucky’s 

Eighth Judicial Circuit. From 1996 to 2003, he also served as Chief 

Administrative Judge for the 21-county Green River Region. He is 

currently a Member and President-Elect of the Conference of Chief 

Justices. He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts. Chief Justice Minton received a B.A. 

from Western Kentucky University, and a J.D. from the University 

of Kentucky College of Law. 

Mary Ellen Barbera has served as Chief Judge of the Maryland 

Court of Appeals since 2013 (Judge, 7th Appellate Judicial Circuit, 

Montgomery County, September 2, 2008 - present). She also serves 

as Chair of the Maryland Judicial Conference. From 2002 to 2008 she 

served as a Judge, Court of Special Appeals (at Large). From 1985 to 

1989 she was an Assistant Attorney General, and Deputy Chief, 

Criminal Appeals Division, from 1989 to 1998. She served for four 

years in the Office of Legal Counsel to the Governor of Maryland, 

from 1998 to 1999 as Deputy Legal Counsel, and from 1999 to 2002 

as Chief Legal Counsel. She received her B.S. from Towson State 

College, and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. 

Board Vice Chair Dan Becker, Justice David Brewer, and Judge Gayle 

Nachtigal were also recently re-appointed by the President to the SJI 

Board. For more information about current and previous Board members, please visit our website.