The Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant a public trial. In Presley v. Georgia , 558 U.S. 209 (2010) (per curiam), this Court held that excluding the public from voir dire of prospective jurors in a criminal trial violated the Sixth Amendment. This Court in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom , 592 U.S. ___, 141 S.Ct. 716 (2021) struck down California's total ban on indoor religious worship services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court protected one of our nation's core Bill of Rights values, the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. The same pandemic led a California trial court to impose a total ban on the "public" aspect of a criminal trial. The exclusion of the public from petitioner's trial touches upon another of our nation's core Bill of Rights values, the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. The questions presented are:

(1) Does the Sixth Amendment public trial right mean that members of the public have a right to be physically present in the courtroom during the trial, including during the COVID-19 pandemic?

(2) May a criminal defendant assert the media's First Amendment right to be physically present in the courtroom during trial?

Does the Sixth Amendment public trial right mean that members of the public have a right to be physically present in the courtroom during the trial, including during the COVID-19 pandemic?