Federal Courts to Curtail Operations, Furlough Staff This Week

The federal judiciary will begin curtailing nonessential functions and furloughing many staff this week after court fee balances that had sustained operations since the Oct. 1 government shutdown were exhausted; judges will continue to be paid under the Constitution while many employees face furloughs or unpaid work under the Antideficiency Act. The Supreme Court expects to run out of funding by Oct. 18 and will close its building to the public while continuing essential work such as oral arguments, filings, opinions and limited building and police support. Federal courts broadly may exhaust funding by about Oct. 20, though courts can use remaining fee balances for limited additional work and will keep jury programs and PACER operational. Individual appellate, district and bankruptcy courts are deciding which cases, probation and pretrial-supervision activities qualify as constitutionally required or “excepted,” creating uncertainty about scheduling hundreds of cases, including high-profile legal challenges to Trump-administration policies. Some districts, including Minnesota, have already ordered many staff to report next week to support Article III judicial functions even as funding lapses.