Judges Order Some Trump Court Cases to Go on Despite Shutdown

Not all court cases involving the Trump administration are coming to a halt during the government shutdown.

At least 10 district courts across the country have issued standing orders that automatically extend some deadlines or pause civil cases in which the federal government is a party. The courts have been flooded with cases challenging the Trump administration’s policies, teeing up many of those to be put on ice while the government is out of funding because the Justice Department’s civil lawyers typically aren’t permitted to work during shutdowns.

Federal courts are operating normally for now, as they have funds from other sources aside from congressional funding to pay staff until Oct. 17, if the shutdown continues. But the Justice Department has said attorneys generally will ask courts to postpone civil cases due to the lapse in funding from Congress. The department’s criminal litigation will continue, as defendants in those cases have certain constitutional rights.

But civil cases can continue if a judge orders the Justice Department to move forward with the work — a scenario that already is playing out in a handful of cases moving their way through federal courts.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington on Wednesday denied a request from the Internal Revenue Service to delay filing the administrative record, information the judge said she needs to decide whether to block the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the agency’s data on US taxpayers.

Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan also rejected a motion to stay proceedings in the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment Inc., which is in discovery. He left the door open to the Justice Department refiling that request “if circumstances materially change.” And Judge Melissa DuBose in Rhode Island issued an order denying a motion to stay litigation over the administration placing anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion conditions on groups seeking federal funds that support domestic violence victims and homeless people.

Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island on Thursday turned away a motion to pause litigation over layoffs at small federal agencies, writing, the “Court is required to continue its constitutional functions.”

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Thursday denied the Trump administration’s request for more time to provide details on its implementation of a federal provision stripping Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood. The joint status report from the Department of Health and Human Services and Planned Parenthood is due Friday evening.

Federal appeals courts also are moving forward with arguments. The Ninth Circuit has sittings scheduled for next week, including one in Honolulu. But the court has said government lawyers may argue cases remotely if “they are prevented from traveling,” as long as they provide advance notice.

Against Delay

In other instances, plaintiffs’ lawyers are pushing back against the government’s requests to postpone.

Lawyers urged a federal appeals court Wednesday not to delay litigation challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to end temporary immigration protections for people from Haiti, Venezuela, and other nations.

They said they would have agreed to pause proceedings, but the government refused to agree not to deport or detain the migrants affected in the interim.

“They apparently have the resources to detain and deport thousands of immigrants with no criminal history to dangerous countries, but would prefer not to expend the resources needed to defend the legality of such actions in court,” the challengers’ attorneys wrote.

In another case, a consultant hired by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which had sued for Securities and Exchange Commission records, told a Washington federal judge Wednesday the “irreversible loss of records creates unmistakable urgency.”

Text messages between SEC officials “will remain at risk of destruction every day until this Court orders the agency to search for and preserve those records,” History Associates Inc. argued in its effort to deny the government’s request to reschedule a hearing.

Lawyers for residents of Flint, Michigan, came out against a bid to pause a lawsuit over the Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of the city’s water crisis, saying their clients have already experienced “extraordinary delays” in the case.

And attorneys are opposing delay in litigation over freezes on federal grants to Harvard, as they’re close to a final judgment being entered in the case.