US judiciary may not be able to fully maintain operations past Feb. 4 in government shutdown

By Nate Raymond

Jan 27 (Reuters) - The federal courts may not be able to fully maintain paid operations beyond February 4 if Congress fails to prevent a partial government shutdown by passing funding legislation for the judicial branch and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, by midnight on Friday, a top judge has warned.

Judge Robert Conrad, the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, shared that assessment in an internal memo on Monday afternoon as Senate Democrats vowed to oppose a funding bill for DHS after immigration officers on Saturday fatally shot a U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, in Minnesota.

The legislation funding the department, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is part of a six-bill spending package covering various areas of the federal government, including defense, health, transportation, education, and housing for the fiscal year ending September 30.

Those bills had already cleared the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives and include a measure that would provide the judiciary $9.2 billion, up 6.4% from a year earlier. The Homeland Security bill also provides an extra $30 million for Supreme Court security.

The funding package had appeared to be on track for passage in the Senate, which had already approved bills to fund other parts of the government, until Saturday, when immigration officers shot and killed Pretti.

His death prompted Democrats in the Republican-led Senate to vow not to support further DHS funding without reforms to safeguard Americans, raising the chances of parts of the government shuttering just months after the previous record shutdown ended in November.

"The combined bill no longer appears to have sufficient votes to pass the Senate, and a lapse of some duration is a distinct possibility while a strategy to address DHS funding is developed," Conrad wrote in Monday's memo to judges nationwide.

If approved funding lapses, the judiciary would not immediately shut down and employees should report to work as normal on February 2, Conrad wrote. But he said it can only rely on fees and other balances to sustain paid operations through February 4.

That would be a very short period compared to the most recent shutdown, when the judiciary was able to sustain paid operations for over two weeks after the lapse in appropriations began on October 1 before curtailing operations and furloughing employees.

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