A Michigan court, in 2026, still has defendants and lawyers wearing face masks inside the courtroom – a move that has one lawyer questioning the reach of judicial authority and the State Court Administrator defending a judge with significant health risks.
Lawyer Nicholas Somberg took to social media on Tuesday, April 7, to lambast Ferndale’s 43rd District Court, saying that when he went to represent a client, he needed to don a face mask to enter the courtroom. Instead, he appeared via Zoom. Later, both the court administrator and 43rd District Court Judge Joseph Longo confirmed the masking standard, saying that Longo is a kidney transplant recipient and is immunocompromised.
The court website uses the term “required” about the call for masking, but Longo framed it as a “request.” Both Longo and Court Administrator Linda Carroll – who gave the judge her kidney − said the court accommodates those who don’t wish to mask, no questions asked.
“Sadly, I’m always concerned because what would be a cold for most people would put me back in an ICU unit and probably back on a ventilator,” Longo said.
Somberg didn’t know about the judge’s health concern prior to posting on social media and garnering hundreds of interactions. Still, his own concerns remain.
“You don’t do this to thousands of people; you find a way to self-manage your medical issues,” Somberg said.
‘Face diapers’
Somberg, a staunch opponent to mandatory masks, is a Bingham Farms-based attorney who ran as the GOP challenger to U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, for Michigan’s 11th Congressional District in 2024.
He also defended former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock in the now-dismissed so-called “fake electors” case tied to the 2020 election and represented, for a time, a man charged in connection to the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor.
In Somberg’s posts and stories on April 7 on Facebook, he said he believes standing up against a mask requirement is a “hill worth dying on.”
He called masks “face diapers,” and said he was discriminated against and had to wait some for the case via Zoom, “all because of my very rare mental condition that my brain requires oxygen. … Us oxygen-needers are people, too.”
Commenters on his posts alerted Somberg to Longo’s organ transplant, Somberg said in a phone call the next day. Still, Somberg questioned how judges handled such health risks before the COVID-19 pandemic began. He said his client also didn’t want to wear a mask if he didn’t have to.
It isn’t personal, and Somberg sympathizes with anyone facing serious health challenges, but the issue is with the limits of a judge’s authority, Somberg said.
He asked if a judge could force the public to wear helmets in the courtroom.
The transplant
Longo’s health concern was reported on in the past: how he got a MRSA infection in 2013, went septic, was in a coma for months and had damage to his lungs and kidneys.
He needed a kidney transplant, Longo said, but doctors didn’t think he’d survive on dialysis for the many years it would take to land one. Carroll surprised him by offering, out of nowhere, to get tested to be a donor. The surgeries took place in 2016.
Longo wore a mask before COVID-19 hit, then “COVID was killing people like me left and right,” he said.
Since then, he has continued to ask that people wear masks in his courtroom, he said.
Longo wears a mask everywhere, doesn’t go to restaurants or weddings, and has plexiglass blocking him in the courthouse. He feels “healthy,” but the risk remains.
Those who say they can’t answer the call for masking will be accommodated with a Zoom hearing or a new court date with fewer people to reduce any spread to others and so a file can be sanitized, the judge said.
If it comes down to it, he’d find another judge to fill in, he said.
He’s not sure what else he can do, but he’s open to suggestions, he said, short of leaving the bench 2.5 years before his term ends. Thereafter, the judge will be unable to serve again based on his age. He first took office in 1998.
“I love what I do, and I want people to feel like they’re getting a fair shake here,” he said.
Carroll said an issue has only arisen about twice in six years, and that person was accommodated; Somberg said he has been accommodated twice.
A judge’s power in the courtroom
A judge has “inherent power” and “broad discretion” to maintain decorum and safety in their courtroom, said retired Brig. Gen. Michael McDaniel, a distinguished professor emeritus at Cooley Law School.
Safety includes safety from illness, he said while discussing a judge’s general ability to order that masks be worn in a courtroom in 2026.
State Court Administrator Tom Boyd also highlighted the discretion of a judge and referred to judges like Longo being an easy target for someone with a political and “broader agenda.”
Boyd questioned who would take issue if the person needing protection was an immunocompromised child witness.
In this case, the person in need of protection just happens to be the judge himself, Boyd said.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ferndale court’s 2026 face mask stance draws online attention
Reporting by Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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