Courts and Legal Proceedings

View from back of the empty supreme court
Court room #1, entrance with blue hearing loop signs on each side of the door

U.S. Supreme Court, hearing loop, FM, and infrared systems

photo credit by Phil Roeder – Flickr: Supreme Court of the United States, CC BY 2.0

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Denver, Colorado. Blue hearing loop signs are on each side of the doors.

Although most of us will have only infrequent experiences in our courts, hearing accurately in courtrooms, service counters, and other legal settings is critical to our fully understanding all that transpires in the legal process. And jury duty, which is both a civic duty and an honor, requires full access for all who are called.

Under the ADA, ALL courtrooms should have an assistive listening system. That’s so anyone – attorneys, clerks, court reporters, defendants, judges, jury members, plaintiffs, staff, witnesses, and anyone observing in the ‘spectator seating’ area – can have full access to clear sound.

Every person with hearing loss has the right to serve on jury duty. Juries are a jury of peers, which includes people with disabilities.

Possible Assistive Listening System Locations

Infrared systems and, FM/RF systems, and hearing loops can be found:

  • Conference rooms for legal consultation
  • Courtrooms, including jury boxes
  • Jury rooms
  • Visitor and information service desks

Some individuals may request CART (live captions by a certified provider) instead of or in addition to an assistive listening system. 

Resources

  • Paragraph template and checklist. Describe your assistive listening system on your webpage. Promoting Your Assistive Listening System, with Checklist by the Center for Hearing Access (2 pages, pdf)
  • Accessible Courtroom, National Center for State Courts (website)
  • US Courts Design Guide. March 2021. Judicial Conference of the United States (412 pages, pdf)
  • Jurors with Disabilities. A discussion of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other statutory requirements requiring accommodations for the disabled, and practical information to be compliant. 2018, Center for Jury Studies (28 pages, pdf)
  • The P100. Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service establishes design standards and criteria for new buildings, repairs and alterations, modernizations, and lease construction facilities that the Government intends to own or has an option to purchase, as well as work in historic structures for the Public Buildings Service (PBS) of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). This document contains both performance-based standards and prescriptive requirements to be used in the programming, design, and documentation of GSA buildings. Includes acoustics standards. July 2021. (316 pages, pdf). Design Standards for US Court Facilities
    • Jury assembly room. ABAAS also determines requirements for listening devices…
    • Grand jury suite. Refer to ABAAS for the number of listening devices.
  • Zotero online library of articles, websites, and examples