UPDATES & ANALYSIS

Federal courts open for business at least one more week

by Rox Laird | January 17, 2019

Federal court operations will continue as normal for at least one more week, federal judicial branch officials said in a news release this week.

The court administration had said court operations would continue through Jan. 18 during the federal government shutdown. Thanks to cost-saving measures, however, that has now been extended another week, until Jan. 25.

Judicial employees are reporting to work and paid. Lawyers and parties are able to file documents electronically on the federal courts’ Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system, and court documents are accessible online on the PACER system.

“The additional week of funding was mainly attributed to aggressive efforts to reduce expenditures,” the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said in the news release. “The Judiciary is continuing these cost-cutting efforts, in the hopes of sustaining operations past Jan. 25, but at some point in the near future, existing funds will run out if new appropriated funds do not become available.”

Tags: Federal Court