A government shutdown curtails the Justice Department's civil litigation but does not suspend federal court deadlines on its own. What happened in the 43-day lapse of 2025, and what to expect at the next funding deadline.
From October 1 to November 12, 2025, much of the federal government operated without appropriations. Many of the defendants in mandamus cases, and the lawyers who represent them, are funded by annual appropriations. This article explains how a lapse affects a pending case, including how long it takes, and what it does not change.
The legal framework
The Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341, bars federal officials from obligating funds that Congress has not appropriated, and § 1342 bars accepting voluntary services except in emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property. During a lapse, agencies continue only "excepted" activities. The Department of Justice's FY 2026 Contingency Plan, issued September 29, 2025, provided that civil litigation would be curtailed or postponed where that could be done without compromising safety of life or protection of property, and that government lawyers would ask courts to postpone active cases. It also stated that if a court nonetheless orders a case to continue, the Department will comply, because the order supplies express legal authority for the work.
What courts did in 2025
Federal courts themselves continued to operate in the first phase of the lapse, using fee balances and other available funds. The government filed motions to stay or extend deadlines in civil cases. Courts handled them differently. Some districts issued standing orders. The District of Columbia, for example, entered Standing Order No. 25-55 on October 1, 2025, which generally extended the government's civil deadlines by the length of the lapse while leaving deadlines on motions for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions in effect. Individual judges elsewhere granted or denied stays case by case, often weighing whether delay would harm the opposing party.
For a delay case, that last point matters. A plaintiff whose claim is that the government has already waited too long can ask the court to deny a stay or to limit it, explaining the concrete harm that further delay would cause. The court, not the contingency plan, decides.
What a lapse does not change
- The agency's own funding. Not every agency stops. USCIS is funded largely by application fees deposited under 8 U.S.C. § 1356(m), so its adjudications are not tied to annual appropriations in the same way as the Justice Department's litigation staff.
- The merits. A lapse does not convert an unreasonable delay into a reasonable one or the reverse. Whether time lost during a shutdown should count against the agency is an argument for the TRAC analysis, not a rule.
- Service and filing. Electronic filing continues. Mail-based service on the United States may be slower, which is a reason to confirm service under Rule 4(i) carefully.
The next deadline
Funding for fiscal year 2027 currently rests on a continuing resolution. According to the Congressional Research Service, it provides appropriations from October 1, 2026, through December 11, 2026, so a further lapse is possible from December 12 unless Congress acts. Funding gaps are not hypothetical: a brief lapse also followed the expiration of funding on January 30, 2026, as Brookings records. Anyone with a filing deadline in that window should check the district's local notices.
How the government's litigation posture shapes these cases more generally is mapped in How the Government Defends Immigration Mandamus Cases, and practice in the District of Columbia is profiled in USCIS Mandamus in DDC.
Key points
- The 2025 lapse in appropriations ran from October 1 to November 12, 2025.
- DOJ's contingency plan curtails civil litigation but commits the government to comply if a court orders a case to continue.
- Courts decide stay requests; some districts, including D.D.C., issued standing orders extending government deadlines.
- A plaintiff in a delay case can ask the court to deny or limit a stay by showing concrete harm.
- Current continuing appropriations run through December 11, 2026.
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