Hearing in Mass. Contact-Tracing Case to Be Held for Law Students' ‘Benefit’

U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni for Massachusetts in Springfield scheduled Oct. 19 oral argument at 1 p.m. EDT in the moot courtroom at Western New England University School of Law in Springfield in the privacy case in which six Android users allege the Massachusetts Department of Public Health unlawfully installed a COVID-19 contact-tracing app on their phones without their knowledge or consent (see 2303220002), said Mastroianni’s electronic order Monday (docket 1:22-cv-11936). Mastroianni, a President Barack Obama appointee in 2013, earned his law degree from the school in 1989, per his court bio. “Counsel should be aware that law students will be in attendance and courtroom technology may be limited,” said the order. Each side will get 30 minutes, and counsel “should be prepared to make comprehensive arguments for the benefit of the law students,” it said.