Federal Courts’ Struggles Grow as the Government Shutdown Continues
Federal courts around the nation are nearing the last bit of reserve funds set aside in case of a government shutdown. Now they risk seeing more and more proceedings come to a grinding halt.
Although criminal cases will continue to be administered in accordance to the principle of speedy trials, civil cases will begin seeing delays almost immediately. In New York, only civil cases that are already in the trial phase will forge on, while all others will be put on hold.
Employees of the court are essential in the courts’ struggle to keep the caseload on track, but will be working without immediate pay. While some have the option to work and be entitled to retroactive pay, other employees, such as many federal prosecutors and other government agencies are seeing widespread furloughs. Those furloughed employees are turning to unemployment benefits to make ends meet.
As we head into the second half of October, courts are beginning to run out of juror reimbursement funds, thus jurors will provide their services for entitlement to retroactive reimbursement.
Most Federal Courts foresee that the reserve fund well will run dry by the end of this week, and it begs the question whether justice can continue to be doled out on “Federal I.O.U.s”.
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