The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday pumped the brakes on lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies amid the government’s shutdown, citing its own need to preserve resources while the funding impasse persists.

The court’s chief judge James Boasberg issued a standing order extending upcoming deadlines in litigation involving the federal government past the shutdown’s end. The order does not extend to instances where the challenger is seeking emergency relief.

Pointing to the “significant volume” of civil matters involving the government, Boasberg signaled the order is intended to stave off a deluge of government requests to pause individual cases — a scenario that might waste the court’s already “scarce” resources.

“The Court has a need to minimize expenditures of scarce judicial resources on large volumes of case-specific motions to stay or extend pending deadlines,” Boasberg wrote, adding the lapse in appropriations constitutes “good cause” for extending deadlines and staying matters where the government is involved.

The government shut down at midnight Wednesday morning after congressional leaders failed to reach a deal on Republicans’ seven-week stopgap spending bill.

Prior to the chief judge’s order, the Trump administration had moved to halt several cases across the country.

The Justice Department’s shutdown plan exempts 89 percent of employees from furlough for the first five days. While criminal prosecutions “will continue without interruption,” civil litigation must be curtailed when possible. 

On Wednesday, DOJ lawyers cited the shutdown in asking a federal judge in Maryland to halt all deadlines in mistakenly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s challenge to the government’s renewed effort to deport him. Abrego Garcia opposes the request, according to the court filing.

In a lawsuit challenging cuts to domestic violence victim programs, DOJ lawyers told a federal judge in Rhode Island the shutdown “effectively eliminated the ability of counsel who have worked on and are familiar with this case to handle the litigation.”

“We regret the necessity of this request,” they wrote.

The Justice Department also moved to stay several recently filed lawsuits seeking voter registration data from states. DOJ lawyers said they “greatly regret any disruption” to the court or other litigants.

Despite the expected delays, the judiciary at large “remains open,” the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said in a statement Wednesday.

The courts are expected to continue paid operations through Oct. 17 by using funds not dependent on a new appropriation, such as court fee balances. It’s a pay period longer than the office initially expected the judiciary’s funds to last.

If the shutdown extends beyond then, and the courts run out of cash, they would follow the terms of the Anti-Deficiency Act.

The law generally bars obligating or spending more money than lawmakers appropriated. But the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said it allows for work to continue if it is necessary to support the exercise of Article III judicial powers.

Updated at 3:20 p.m. EDT.