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Originally Posted by Buck
Even Civil cases?
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Will federal courts continue to operate?
It depends on the length of the shutdown. During past government shutdowns, courts continued to operate using funds from court fees and funds leftover from previous years. Some courts declined to start new civil trials during the shutdown. However, if there is a prolonged shutdown, the courts may run out of funds and be forced to close.
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No clear answer, apparently it's situational. The less essential cases are put on the backburner. I imagine the Judiciary will be raiding their rainy day fund to make sure a civil case involving a billion dollar industry gets heard.
But if the shutdown goes on for an unprecedented length, and by that we're talking months (longest shutdown was 21 days, in '96), it's likely that civil court cases will have to be put on hold.