Impact on Legal Information of Partial US Government Shutdown

This is a follow-up to the January 10, 2019 Library Boy post on Disappearing Data Caused by US Federal Government Shutdown.

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) issued an eBriefing today on the Impact of the Partial Federal Government Shutdown:

"Impact of the shutdown to selected agencies:

• The Library of Congress/Law Library of Congress and the Government Publishing Office remain open. The shutdown has not closed the Library of Congress/Law Library of Congress or the Government Publishing Office. Both remain open because they are funded through the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, one of the five appropriations bills completed prior to the October 1 start of Fiscal Year 2019. Government websites operated by these agencies—including Congress.gov and govinfo—remain available.
• The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Legal Services Corporation are open.
• The National Archives and Records Administration is closed.
• The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts is operating the Judiciary on limited funds through January 18, 2019 (...)"

"In general, federal departments and agencies that face a lapse in appropriations are required by law to shut down operations, with only 'excepted activities' relating to the 'safety of human life or protection of property'. Agencies develop contingency plans outlining actions to be taken when Congress fails to enact appropriations, under guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)..."

According to AALL, many government websites in the US are not being updated during the shutdown, including those of the Department of Justice and the federal Courts of Appeal.

There is also more information on the Free Government Information blog (Government shutdown causing information access problems) and the legal research website beSpacific (Shutdown: Dot-gov websites vulnerable to cyberattacks, certificates expiring amid funding pause).