US Federal Courts to Begin Furloughs as Shutdown Depletes Remaining Funds

The United States federal court system will begin curtailing non-essential functions and furloughing some employees from Monday, after exhausting the funds that had sustained paid operations during the ongoing government shutdown.

 

The announcement, detailed in an internal memo reviewed by Reuters, marks the first time in nearly three decades that the federal judiciary will be forced to send some of its more than 30,000 employees home and require others to work without pay, following Congress’s failure to pass legislation to keep the government funded.

 

The shutdown has already caused widespread delays in civil lawsuits involving federal agencies, as many of their staff have been furloughed. However, judges overseeing numerous legal challenges to Republican President Donald Trump’s policies have frequently denied government requests to pause those cases.

 

Unlike executive branch agencies, the judiciary had been able to sustain its paid operations for several weeks after the shutdown began on October 1 by using fees and other funds not dependent on Congressional authorisation.

 

However, tight budgets in recent years meant the judiciary entered the current shutdown with fewer reserves than during the 2019 shutdown in Trump’s first term, when courts were able to operate for the full five weeks. Funding is now projected to run out by Friday.

 

Courts will remain open, and judges and Supreme Court justices will continue to receive pay, owing to a constitutional prohibition against reducing judicial salaries. Officials in several district courts said jurors could still be paid, at least for now.

 

Judge Robert Conrad, Director of the Administrative Office of the US Courts, said in Thursday’s memo that the judiciary had done all it could to maintain operations by deferring planned spending, but would enter a new phase of the shutdown at midnight on Monday.

 

Furlough notices will be distributed that morning, and “orderly shutdown activities will commence,” Conrad wrote.

 

The last time such furloughs occurred within the judiciary was during the government shutdowns under Democratic President Bill Clinton between 1995 and 1996.

 

The US Supreme Court will continue to hear arguments and issue rulings during the shutdown, though its building will remain closed to the public until further notice, spokesperson Patricia McCabe said.

 

It remains unclear how many judicial employees will be furloughed. Officials in several trial courts said most of their staff would likely be deemed exempt under the Antideficiency Act, as they provide essential services ensuring the courts fulfil their constitutional duties, including the right to a speedy trial for criminal defendants.

 

However, probation officers, judicial clerks and administrative staff still on duty are expected to receive their final paycheques on 24 October -- a situation that “is extremely stressful to our employees,” said Chief District Judge Randy Crane of the Southern District of Texas.

 

Chief District Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois expressed concern that “the lack of appropriation will create delays in the court’s ability to ensure timely justice.”

 

Federal public defenders and private lawyers representing indigent defendants under the Criminal Justice Act will also go unpaid. Payment to private lawyers in such cases has already been delayed since July after funding for them was exhausted -- a situation the courts have described as a “crisis.”