Almost all of the states as well as many parts of Canada have struggled with balancing public health concerns and the right to a speedy trial. A federal judge says a South Dakota court can’t use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to delay a trial and in the same breath criticized South Dakota’s response to the pandemic, saying it has done “little, if anything,” to mitigate the spread of the virus, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. The article contains the judge’s actual order. In it U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann wrote : “South Dakota has done little, if anything, to curtail the spread of the virus. South Dakota cannot ‘take advantage’ of its own failures to follow scientific facts and safeguards in entering blanket denials of the rights of speedy trials.”