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Court Calendaring And Continuance

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In the federal court system, the Court Clerk is responsible for the courts calendar and dockets (Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 2016). The federal courts use electronic case management for recording dockets, and producing calendars (United States Court, n.d.). This also helps promote efficiency by allowing the parties involved in the case to access court records online (United States Court, n.d.). Electronic dockets “are available to the public one day after they are entered” into the system (Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 2016). This gives the public immediate access to the court dockets. State and local courts differ from federal courts because not every court has court clerks. Most states do …show more content…

In the state system, judges would consider the continuance if “good cause” is shown to the court that justifies the continuance (Steelman, 2008). If the continuance is granted, the defense would “waive time” and the trial would be calendared for the next available trial date (TN Courts, n.d.). The state judge would also ensure the continuance would not have any potential negative impacts on the case (Steelman, 2008). In this scenario, a continuance may have a negative impact on prosecution if they are required to turn over the discovery and defense is provided a prolonged opportunity to review the discover. If the prosecutor is not required turn over the discovery, the defense attorney may not be able to effectively defend his or her client, which may result in a delay in a resolution of the case. Since both attorneys are not agreeing to the continuance, and arguments are made that it may hinder the case resolution, a state judge would likely deny the request. Since this case would be heard in a federal U.S. District Court, the request for continuance and calendaring would be handled differently than a state court. The federal judge can consider the status of the trial calendar as a factor to grant or not grant a continuance (Second Judicial District, 1997). The scenario explains that the judges calendar is full for the next ten months; therefore, it is likely he would decide to try the case

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