A lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations against an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge has been formally dismissed.
In March, the Abolitionist Law Center’s Court Watch program sued Judge Anthony M. Mariani in federal court alleging that he was refusing to provide access to proceedings before him.
The program alleged that its court watchers had requested virtual access to more than 100 proceedings in Mariani’s courtroom, but he refused them each time.
However, a few days after the lawsuit was filed, Mariani began granting remote access.
In late March, court administrators issued an order requiring all Common Pleas and magistrate judges to continue to offer the public access to remote proceedings through June 30.