Judges across Georgia’s 159 counties are finding their own ways to carry on under the unprecedented statewide judicial emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Cobb County Superior Court, Chief Judge M. Reuben Green has instituted a judge of the day program to hear urgent matters. With jury trials suspended and all nonessential business put on hold, each day a different “duty judge” is holding forth in what is called the ceremonial courtroom, the largest one, on the second floor of the Haynes Street courthouse.