Courts pause anti-Trump civil lawsuits during shutdown

The Justice Department announced that while criminal prosecutions will continue uninterrupted, the shutdown “effectively eliminated” its ability to handle most civil litigation. One such case involves legal challenges to Trump’s policy restrictions on homelessness and domestic violence grants. In a Rhode Island lawsuit over federal grant terminations, DOJ lawyers told the court they “regret the necessity” of asking for a pause in proceedings due to the funding lapse.

Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a two-page standing order on Wednesday granting blanket deadline extensions for most civil cases involving the federal government. The goal, Boasberg said, is to preserve the court’s “scarce judicial resources” and preempt a flood of case-specific motions to delay proceedings.

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