UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT
In Re:
Amended Order of the Chief Judge Regarding the
Operations of the United States District Court ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
for the District of Connecticut in the
Absence of an Appropriation or 2025 -24
Continuing Resolution Enacted by the
United States Congress and the President
If an appropriation or continuing resolution funding the operations of the United
States Courts is not passed by the United States Congress and signed by the President
before notification by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (currently anticipated
at close of business on Friday, October 17, 2025) that the Federal Judiciary must
operate undertheAntideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341, et seq., the following measures
shall take effect until superseded by such appropriation or continuing resolution or until
further Order of the Court.
Pursuant to Volume 13, Chapter 2, § 230.50 of the Guide to Judiciary Policy, to
avoid a violation of the Antideficiency Act, the judiciary must reduce its operations and
incur only obligations and expenditures to perform "excepted activities." Excepted
activities are defined as:
1. Activities necessary to the exercise of the judiciary's constitutional
functions, i.e., the resolution of cases in which there is a constitutional or statutory
grant of jurisdiction;
2. Activities addressing circumstances such that the suspense of the function
would threaten the safety of human life orthe protection of property; and
3. Activities otherwise authorized by law, either expressly or by necessary
implication, including:
a. Constitutional guarantees (e.g., the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment);
b. operating entitlement programs (e.g., Judicial Survivors Annuities System); and
c. Activities needed for an orderly shutdown of other official functions.
Accordingly, upon review by the Judges of this Court of staffing levels and work
necessary to support the exercise of Article Ill judicial powers, the Court has
determined that all employees of the United States District Court for the District of
Connecticut are hereby deemed to be performing work necessary to support the
excepted activities of the Court, that is, the exercise of judicial powers. Although all
employees are deemed to be performing excepted activities, the Court recognizes that
not all employees are needed to report for duty every day during the shutdown.
Accordingly, consistent with the requirements of the Antideficiency Act, the following
measures are ordered beginning on October 20, 2025, and for the duration of the
shutdown:
1. All employees of the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the
District of Connecticut are ordered furloughed on Fridays.
2. The Clerk's Office is ordered closed on Fridays. Neither this paragraph nor
paragraph 1 prohibits a presiding judge from deciding that certain Clerk's Office
personnel must report for duty on one or more Fridays as necessary to enable the
judge to adjudicate a particular case.
3. Travel, except as approved by the Chief District Judge, shall be avoided.
4. No new personnel may be hired, and no new expenditures of funds may be
made without the consent of the Chief Judge.
5. Training is suspended.
6. The General Services Administration (GSA), the Federal Protective Service
(FPS), and the United States Marshals Service (USMS), District of Connecticut, are
requested to maintain all functions necessary for the continued safe use of all United
States Courthouse facilities in the District of Connecticut. The Court will not require
maintenance services or security after normal business hours or on weekends, unless
essential to the exercise of its Article Ill judicial functions. The Court will support all
active GSA, FPS, and USMS projects in the District.
The Court has determined that all employees of the United States Probation
Office for the District of Connecticut are hereby deemed to be performing excepted
activities. Accordingly, due to the nature of their work, all employees of the U.S.
Probation Office are ordered to report to work for their regularly scheduled hours,
Monday through Friday, and to continue all normal operations of the office.
This Court will continue to 1) hear and decide cases without interruption; 2)
timely file and process all filings, motions, orders, emergency applications, and
other litigation documents; 3) collect and deposit fees and costs into the Treasury;
4) accept and process new civil and criminal cases; 5) continue regular
administration of the jury system; 6) produce reports on bail or release, and
sentencing, or provide other services required by judges in the performance of
their constitutional duties; 7) supervise offenders ~individuals under supervised
release, probation, and parole) and provide needed treatment services; and 8)
handle new cases or maintain existing cases, as necessary to assist the court in
implementing its orders and judgments.
The Chief Judge will periodically review the work of staff to determine if all
staff continue to perform work necessary to support the exercise of Article Ill judicial
powers. If staff is not so employed, they will, as required by law, be furloughed.
Staff will perform only excepted functions as set forth in this Order and are
consistent with the Antideficiency Act and guidance from the Judicial Council of the
Second Circuit, the Administrative Office, and the Judicial Conference of the United
States. The Clerk of Court and Chief U.S. Probation Officer are directed to provide
staff with guidance to avoid any non-excepted work.
SO ORDERED.
Dated at Hartford, Connecticut, this 5th day of November, 2025.
Isl Michael P Shea
Michael P. Shea
Chief United States District Judge
