January 1, Supreme Court Braces for Shutdown Impact, Staff Unpaid

Wyatt’s Take

• The Supreme Court will stay open but must halt public visits as soon as Monday.
• Federal judges will keep working, but their staff will only handle essential duties and won’t get paid until funding returns.
• Each local federal court will set its own plans to cope with the money crisis from the ongoing shutdown.

This weekend, the Supreme Court will lose its main funding due to the government shutdown. Federal judges across the country will still work, but their pay and that of their staff stops until the shutdown ends.

Starting Monday, the Supreme Court must close to visitors but will continue with hearings and orders.

“The Supreme Court will continue to conduct essential work such as hearing oral arguments, issuing orders and opinions, processing case filings, and providing police and building support needed for those operations,” Patricia McCabe said.

Staff in federal courts will only do protected tasks, and all paychecks for judges and staff are paused until the shutdown lifts.

“Until the ongoing lapse in government funding is resolved, federal courts will maintain limited operations necessary to perform the Judiciary’s constitutional functions,” stated the administrative office of the U.S. Courts.

Each local federal court will figure out how to handle ongoing work like cases and supervision of those on probation while the money situation is unsettled.

Some operations will keep running a bit longer using leftover court fees, but that’s only for a few days.

Full story here

Wyatt Matters

The shutdown hurts regular workers who keep our courts running and reminds us how political gridlock in Washington can cause real problems for everyday folks and public services across America.