The Third Circuit today posted a new standing order on its website, link here. The order provides that, effective June 3, the marshals at all federal courthouses in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (including the Third Circuit’s Byrne courthouse) will implement a new procedure that places significant new limits on use of electronic devices including phones inside the courthouse buildings. The order is signed by EDPA Chief Judge Sanchez. Everyone not exempted from the policy has to keep their devices in locked pouches until they leave.

Lawyers are among those exempted from the new policy, as are jurors, court officers and staff, law enforcement, and media. But lawyers can violate the order merely by letting non-exempted folks like paralegals, investigators, or assistants use their electronic devices inside, which seems certain to lead to inadvertent violations.

The order say that the policy applies to laptops, but how it does so is unclear to me. Under the policy, “all cameras, cellular telephones, smart phones, and similarly sized personal electronic devices” have to be turned off and carried in locked pouches. Are laptops “similarly sized personal electronic devices”? Do they fit in the vouches? If not, what happens to them under the new procedure? We’ll see.

Worth a careful read.