![The court for the Northern District of Ohio has offices at the Carl B. Stokes Courthouse in Cleveland and in Akron, Youngstown and Toledo. [John McLenaghan / shutterstock]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f3f142c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1687+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F12%2F28%2Ffedcourt_web_shutterstock_johnmcLenaghan.jpg)
The shutdown of the federal government is now in its 7 th day, with no end in sight.
And that means the possibility of delays at Cleveland’s federal courthouse.
In an order issued December 26, the district court announced that any civil cases involving the U.S. Dept. of Justice will be put on hold for two weeks. DOJ lawyers won’t work during the shutdown.
One of the big civil cases in that court – the consent decree involving Cleveland’s Division of Police – won’t be directly affected because the city funds personnel working on the case.
Another, the opioid lawsuit involving local governments and drug manufacturers, could see some delays.
In that case, the federal government informed the court that it won’t be able to respond to subpoenas for information for 14 days or longer if the government remains shut down.
