Saying that the federal government shutdown makes it impossible for them to work on the case, Justice Department attorneys are asking a federal appeals court to delay its response to a request for an en banc hearing in the lawsuit challenging mass firings at the CFPB.
“At the end of the day on September 30, 2025, the appropriations act that had been funding the Department of Justice expired and appropriations to the Department lapsed,” the attorneys told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. “The same is true for several other Executive agencies. The Department does not know when funding will be restored by Congress.”
They go on to say that without an appropriation, DoJ attorneys “are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
The DoJ attorneys requested that, when appropriations are restored, the deadline for filing a response be extended for the number of days commensurate with the lapse in appropriations, plus an additional 14 days. “The Government will need this additional time following the end of the lapse to restart regular government operations and finalize a response for filing,” the DoJ attorneys said.
The appeals court had directed the Trump Administration to file a response to the plaintiffs’ request for an en banc hearing by October 21.
The attorneys said that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit do not oppose the motion for an extension of time.
The plaintiffs, including the National Treasury Employees Union, filed suit against the Trump Administration, contending that mass firings at the CFPB would result in the agency being shut down.
A divided appeals court has said that the Trump Administration can resume the firing of more than 1,400 employees at the CFPB.
In a 2-1 majority opinion, the D.C. Circuit dissolved a preliminary injunction issued by District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson. On March 28, Judge Jackson issued an injunction that required the reinstatement with back pay of CFPB employees that had been terminated by the administration.
However, when it dissolved the injunction, the Appeals Court withheld the mandate in the case until the plaintiffs timely petitioned for a rehearing en banc. The plaintiffs subsequently filed a request for the en banc hearing.
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