That's an excellent question.
To Ms. Hardie's point and her reference to Justice Lynch, a lack of decorum is a serious problem, and so is the ability to assess credibility fairly, where credibility is often the essence of how any case, criminal, civil, family or child protection, is adjudicated.
The remote process, the Zoom hearing, the teleconference, has a place, and will continue to have a place. We've embraced it, and the pandemic has expedited that. However, to say that should be the default position, especially where credibility is so crucial.... We cannot dispense with in-person hearings, of course, and we need to get back to them.
On both decorum and the issue of credibility, the sense of being heard in a courtroom is all about respect for the rule of law, for the judicial decision-making process, and for having been fairly heard. All of these things affect the participants in the process, and their view of whether or not fairness and justice have occurred in a proper forum.
The reason our forebears built such grand courthouses across the country, many of which are still with us, is to salute the rule of law. We are deferring to the rule of law, and where the rule of law is applied, and that decorum is very important.
We always say about judges that they write for the loser, right? You have to explain why the loser lost, and you're writing for the public, as well. The credibility determination is always a part of those reasons.