The shutdown of the federal government will begin to affect the operations of the federal court system on Monday, including the Supreme Court, which will shut its doors to the public at a time when the judiciary is confronting a pileup of legal challenges to the Trump administration’s policies.
The Supreme Court will continue to hold oral arguments, process case filings and to issue opinions and orders, a court spokeswoman said in a statement on Friday. But the building will only be open for official business — meaning visitors cannot tour the building and its exhibits.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which helps coordinate operations across the country’s dozens of federal court districts, said in a separate statement that by Monday the federal courts would not have funds to “sustain full, paid operations.”
While federal judges will continue to be paid as required by the Constitution, the statement said court staff might be limited to working on lifesaving or emergency cases, and some might be required to work without pay as required by the Antideficiency Act.
“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 statement said. “Each court and federal defender’s office will determine the staffing resources necessary to support such work.”
The announcement foreshadowed the possibility of delays and reduced staffing in federal courts as the government shutdown drags on, even as scores of lawsuits against the Trump administration’s policies have steamed ahead and many new ones continued to be filed.
It was not immediately clear on Friday how different judicial districts would respond, or whether some judicial clerks and support staff — such as the court reporters who transcribe court hearings — might soon be told to stay home or asked to work without pay.
In Illinois, where a lawsuit challenging the president’s deployment of the National Guard in Chicago is pending, Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a statement on Monday warning that the shutdown “will create delays in the court’s ability to ensure timely justice.”
“The dedicated public servants, who allow those who seek redress prompt access to court, are now feeling the pain of their paychecks being suspended and facing difficult financial decisions to keep their families afloat because of the shutdown,” she said. She added that enough funding remained available to continue all scheduled trials and grand jury sessions, at least for now.
A spokesman for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to comment, though the court had similarly pledged to keep operating normally for as long as possible.
Until Friday, the federal court system had been operating relatively unchanged, financing its work through a small fund derived mainly from the fees that the public pays to view and access digital court records online. The system charges 10 cents per page for access to otherwise public filings, creating a pool of funds that had supported the courts for two weeks even as broad segments of the federal government began to furlough workers and suspend services on Oct. 1.
But the announcement on Friday effectively left the decision on how to proceed in coming days and weeks to individual courts, almost certainly creating a patchwork of solutions across the country.
It was not immediately clear how court operations or scheduled hearings might be further affected if the shutdown extends into November or beyond.
On Friday, a federal judge in Northern California heard an emergency hearing in a case brought by labor unions challenging attempted mass firings at a number of federal agencies. A federal judge had temporarily blocked the Trump administration from using the shutdown to carry out blanket layoffs after a flurry of emergency motions and hearings in that case.
Since funding for the government lapsed at the end of September, the Justice Department has repeatedly asked judges to briefly suspend litigation in key cases against the government. However, a growing number of judges have refused to do so. In other cases, some judges have extended deadlines until after the impasse ends, or agreed to put less urgent matters on hold.
In filings, the Justice Department has argued that it cannot keep up with the demands of defending the government across the hundreds of lawsuits against the Trump administration with reduced resources.
But according to the agency’s shutdown plans, only 11 percent of its work force was set to be furloughed. That compares with more than 80 percent of federal workers at other agencies, such as the Commerce Department.
Ann E. Marimow contributed reporting.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the federal courts, including the legal disputes over the Trump administration’s agenda.
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