Trump DOJ Lawyers Won’t Work Amid Shutdown. Judges Say They Must

Some U.S. judges are pushing back against Justice Department efforts to halt lawsuits involving the Trump administration during the partial government shutdown, now in its sixth day.

The agency is arguing in courts across the country that lawyers for the U.S. are barred from working—even as volunteers—when appropriations from Congress lapse, as they did on Dec. 21, after President Donald Trump refused to sign off on temporary funding agreed to by Congress because it didn’t provide money to build a wall on the Mexican border.

In one case, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington denied the government’s request to ...