Six Missouri judges will be trained in the science around COVID-19 ahead of an expected influx of cases arising from pandemic.
The judges will in turn educate their colleagues on the bench in a national initiative led by the not-for-profit National Courts and Science Institute (NCSI).
It is an attempt at forward thinking, to deliver at least some base knowledge regardless of what the legal questions and potential cases, said Missouri Supreme Court Judge Zel M. Fischer, current NCSI president and one of the state delegates.
The types of cases they will preside over "is a little bit unpredictable," Fischer told the St. Louis Record.
But he added: "The fear of policy makers is that there will be a lot of liability-type claims, not just medical delivery but also against premises..possibly landlord/tenant.
"Somebody somewhere is going to be creative. We have to be nimble, to adjust."
Fischer, an long time advocate of the importance of educating the judiciary and the bar in scientific advances, will be part of a team studying and learning about vaccines, novel coronavirus testing and other fast emerging scientific evidence.
Circuit Judge Cory L. Atkins of the 16th Judicial Circuit in Jackson County will coordinate deployment of the judges for the initiative, which will involve 15 states.
The NCSI, at one time funded by the U.S. Congress, though now reliant on private backing, has worked for nearly three decades training judges on science-related issues relevant to the court room, including pharmaceuticals and vaccines.
So the novel coronavirus training "piggy backs" on earlier work, Fischer explained, but added that the super speed of vaccine deployment these last months, and the use of biotechnology, including rDNA and CRISPR is "out front and new, unfamiliar."
The key in any case that revolves around science, in small part or largely, is "to find the right person with the right background, someone with no interest except the truth," Fischer said.
"This grant will allow us to give judges the scientific training they need to handle issues of virology, epidemiology, immunity formation, treatment modalities and outcomes, and vaccine clinical trials and distribution as they manage novel cases arising in both civil and criminal contexts," Fischer said.
Certified judges, who will pass on their expertise to others in the state, will learn the health science of the SARS-Coronavirus 2 pathophysiology, epidemiology; distinctions among tests, clinical trial protocols for and results from vaccines and treatments, acute and chronic care issues, and criteria for qualifying experts