Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, U.S. COURTS NEWS—Judiciary's funding runs out; U.S. courts to continue with only limited operations, (Oct 20, 2025)

By Suzanne Cosgrove

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced shutdown-related restrictions late Friday.

The U.S. judicial branch has announced that beginning on Monday, Oct. 20, it will no longer have funding to sustain fully paid operations. Until the ongoing lapse in U.S. government funding is resolved, federal courts will maintain limited operations necessary to perform the Judiciary’s constitutional functions, it said.

Federal judges will continue to serve, in accordance with the Constitution, but court staff may only perform certain excepted activities permitted under the Anti-Deficiency Act.

According to a Friday memo published on USCourts.gov, examples of excepted work include activities necessary to perform constitutional functions under Article III, activities necessary for the safety of human life and protection of property, and activities otherwise authorized by federal law. Excepted work will be performed without pay during the funding lapse and staff members not performing excepted work will be placed on furlough.

Operational details. Each appellate, district, and bankruptcy court will make operational decisions regarding how its cases and probation and pretrial supervision will be conducted during the funding lapse, the memo stated. Each court and federal defender’s office will determine the staffing resources necessary to support such work.

Examples of excepted work include activities necessary to perform constitutional functions under Article III, activities necessary for the safety of human life and protection of property, and activities otherwise authorized by federal law.

Individuals with Judiciary business should direct questions to the appropriate clerk of court’s office, probation and pretrial supervision office, or federal defender organization, or consult their websites, the memo stated.

Electronic filing continues. The Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system will remain in operation for electronic filing of documents. Case information will be available on PACER.

In addition, individual courts will determine which cases will continue on schedule and which may be delayed. Further, the jury program is funded by money not affected by the appropriations lapse, so it will continue to operate.

A 17-day extension. Following the Oct. 1 U.S. government shutdown, the Judiciary continued paid operations through Friday, Oct. 17, by using court fee balances and other funds not dependent on a new appropriation. It also plans to perform limited additional work during the weekend of Oct. 18-19.

News: LitigationNewsTrends AgencyNews EconomicNews PracticeTip WhiteHouseNews