San Bernardino — Court Access

Source: https://sanbernardino.courts.ca.gov/system/files/forms-filing/courtaccess.pdf

Sparse pages use OCR; original PDF remains authoritative.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 SUPERIOR COURT COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO 247 West Third Street, Eleventh Floor San Bernardino, CA 92415 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO } IN RE: GENERAL ORDER #GO26-005 COURT ACCESS GENERAL ORDER OF THE PRESIDING JUDGE The purpose of this General Order is to ensure the safe and orderly use of court facilities; to minimize activities that unreasonably disrupt, interrupt or interfere with the orderly and peaceable conduct of court business in a neutral forum free of actual or perceived partiality, bias, prejudice or favoritism; to provide for the fair and orderly conduct of hearings and trials; to promote the free flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic on sidewalks and streets around court facilities; and to maintain proper judicia decorum. The further purpose of this General Order is to facilitate safe and orderly access to the courthouses unhindered by threats, confrontation, interference, noise pollution or harassment that may be directed at court users including, but not limited to, those court users waiting outside a courthouse. General Order: Court Access -1-

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 This General Order regulates only conduct occurring in and around court facilities without regard to the content of any particular message, opinion, idea or form of speech. The court does not intend to ban all expressive activities from the environs surrounding court facilities and intends this General Order to be construed so as to provide ample alternatives channels for communication of information near but not within court facilities or courthouse grounds. (See, Comfort v. McLaughlin (C.D. Cal 2006) 473 F. Supp.2d 1026). WHEREFORE, the Court hereby orders: I. DEFINITIONS A. The following definitions apply for the purposes of this General Order:

1. “Prohibited Activity” shall mean any and all of the acts of demonstrating, picketing, parading, distributing literature or other materials, soliciting sales or donations, engaging in commercial activity and engaging in oral or demonstrative protest, education or counseling.
2. “Walkway” shall mean (a) any corridor, sidewalk or other path of pedestrian movement directly from the edge of the public sidewalk nearest an entrance to any building containing a courtroom; (b) any, corridor, sidewalk or other path of pedestrian movement leading directly from a parking lot within the curtilage to an entrance to any building containing a courtroom; and (c) any corridor or passageway within a multi-purpose, commercial or private building that leads directly to the part of the building containing a courtroom.
3. “Curtilage” shall mean any area between any building containing a courtroom and nearest edge of public sidewalk surrounding the building. It shall not include the area adjacent to that portion of a multi-purpose, commercial or private building that does not contain a courtroom. General Order: Court Access -2-

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 officers in the performance of their official duties. solicitation of sales as part of any commercial, primarily non-expressive, activity including, but not limited to, the sale of food stuffs, reading materials and sundries in a courtroom. PROHIBITIONS A. No person shall engage in any prohibited activity within a courthouse. B. No person shall engage in any prohibited activity within the curtilage of a courthouse. Cc. No person shall obstruct, harass, impede or interfere with any person entering or leaving a courthouse or with any person waiting in line to enter a courthouse. D. No person shall approach another person waiting in line to enter a courthouse, within eight (8) feet of the other person, for the purpose of engaging in a prohibited activity unless the other person consents. E. No person shall engage in any prohibited activity in or near a courthouse with the intent to interfere with, obstruct or impede the administration of justice or with the intent to influence any judge, juror, witness or officer of the court in the discharge of their duty. F. No person shall use amplification equipment to engage in any prohibited activity in a manner that harasses or interferes with any person leaving or entering a courthouse or with any person waiting in line to enter a courthouse. EXCLUSIONS This Order shall not apply to authorized court personnel or law enforcement Section Il, (A) and (B), shall not apply to persons engaged in the stationary 4. “Courthouse” shall mean any building containing, at least, one (1) courtroom. It shall also mean that portion of a multi-purpose commercial or private building that contains, at least, one (1) General Order: Court Access -3-

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 specific space not dedicated to court functions and expressly authorized by a written lease, space permit, license or other written agreement executed by the Court, County of San Bernardino or the owner of a building containing a courtroom. IV. SEVERABILITY Should any provision of this General Order be held invalid, the validity of the other provisions of this General Order shall not be affected. V. COMPLIANCE WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT It is further ordered that all persons must comply with the lawful requests, directions and orders made by any law enforcement officers and their agents in the performance of their duties while they are on or in the premises of any courthouse. VI. NOTICE It is ordered that this General Order shall be posted at each public entrance to a courthouse and on the Court's webpage, www.sb-court.org. The Sheriff of San Bernardino County and his/her deputies are directed to serve a copy of this Genera Order on any person or organization who appears to be in violation thereof and to advise the person or organization of the apparent violation. If the apparent violation continues after such notice, the Sheriff or his/her deputies are authorized to enforce this General Order to ensure the orderly and peaceable conduct of court business at the courthouse. The Sheriff or his/her deputies shall notify the Court's Public Safety Officer, Court Counsel, and/or the Supervising Judge of that district or his/her designee of the occurrence. Vil. PENALTIES Violation of this Order may result in the imposition of sanctions in an amount up to $1,500 per violation pursuant to the Code of Civil Procedure, section 177.5., and/or criminal prosecution. General Order: Court Access -4-

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Vill. EFFECT OF PRIOR ORDERS This order is effective January 1, 2026, and supersedes all previous general orders entitled Court Access, issued by previous Presiding Judges. This order shall remain in effect until December 31, 2027. Dated this 1st day of January, 2026. oe a Rod Cortez % Presiding Judge of the Superior Court General Order: Court Access -5-