Judge keeps DC National Guard legal fight moving during shutdown

Zoe Tillman, Bloomberg News on Oct 2, 2025

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge denied the U.S. Justice Department’s request to pause several upcoming deadlines during the government shutdown in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington.

In a one-paragraph order on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb wrote that the written materials the government was due to submit this month relate to the District’s request for urgent judicial intervention — the type of time-sensitive issue that the Washington court has determined shouldn’t be delayed by Congress’ budget impasse.

The Justice Department has been winding down its obligations in civil cases since the shutdown began on Wednesday, in light of federal laws that restrict the work federal employees can do when Congress fails to approve spending. Government lawyers have been filing requests to pause deadlines or place cases on hold in federal courts across the country.

The chief judge of the Washington federal court released a blanket “standing” order on Wednesday that automatically pauses deadlines in U.S. government cases during the shutdown. However, that order didn’t apply to the government’s responses to litigants seeking emergency action from judges.

In the National Guard case, the government is expected to produce information and evidence to the city’s lawyers by Oct. 10 and to file briefs with written arguments ahead of an Oct. 24 hearing on the District’s request for a preliminary injunction that restricts troop deployments.

Justice Department lawyers asked Cobb to lift those deadlines. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office largely opposed the request, writing that the case was a “poor candidate” for delay because the deployment of more than 2,300 armed troops “is inflicting irreparable harm to the District’s sovereignty, its economy, and public safety.”

In Thursday’s order, Cobb extended one of the filing deadlines by 10 days but otherwise denied the request, writing that the written briefs and evidence relate to the city’s request for an immediate injunction.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday afternoon. A spokesperson for the city attorney general’s office declined to comment.