The federal judiciary said courts nationwide could sustain paid operations through October 17 after Congress failed to pass spending legislation in time to avert a government shutdown. Judge Robert Conrad, who heads the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, in a memo to judges nationally provided a date that was two weeks longer than what it had estimated last week.
During the last government shutdown in 2019 during Trump's first term in office, the federal judiciary remained operational for the full five weeks. It was able to do so by relying on fees and balances not tied to Congress authorizing new spending. But the judiciary says tight budgets in recent years have reduced the availability of the funding needed to sustain paid operations if Congress does not act.
Conrad, in today’s memo, said based on revised estimates, the judiciary's more than 30,000 employees will still receive paychecks as scheduled on October 10 and October 24.
Should money run out after that, judges and U.S. Supreme Court justices would still get paid, thanks to a constitutional bar against a diminution in their pay. The Supreme Court plans to proceed with hearing arguments during its new term that begins on Monday. But law clerks, probation officers, and other employees would not be paid. Read more from Nate Raymond.
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US government shutdown: What is open, what is closed
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FCC suspends most normal operations, furloughs 81% of staff
