By Bryan Manabat
bryan@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
THE District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands has announced operational changes due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, 2025.
In a public notice issued Monday, the court stated that it has exhausted its reserve funding and will now implement rolling furloughs for staff.
Although the federal court was able to maintain paid operations through Oct. 17 using court fee balances and no-year appropriations, those funds have now been depleted. As a result, court employees will only perform “excepted” activities authorized under the Anti-Deficiency Act, such as:
– Constitutional functions of the court.
– Activities necessary for the safety of human life and the protection of property.
– Other duties permitted by federal law.
Court staff members not engaged in these excepted duties will be placed on furlough. Those performing excepted work will do so without pay until funding is restored.
Despite the staffing challenges, the court emphasized that proceedings, Clerk’s Office services, and probation and pretrial supervision will continue for the time being, though delays are expected.
The CM/ECF electronic case filing system and PACER will remain online, ensuring continued access to case information.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremony scheduled for Oct. 27 at the court has also been canceled until further notice, Variety learned.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
