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HELENA, Mont. The government shutdown is slowing the wheels of justice in federal courts by delaying civil cases, forcing prosecutors to operate with skeleton staffs and raising uncertainty about the system s immediate future if the stalemate continues past Thursday.That s when federal courts officials expect the reserve funds they have been using since the Oct. 1 start of the shutdown will run out. Criminal cases, which are required by law to go to a speedy trial, are still moving ahead, as are most bankruptcy cases and appeals. Civil cases and those in immigration court, however, are feeling the greatest impact from the shutdown. The Constitution tells us what we have to do and we can t control our workload. It walks in the door, whether we re funded or not funde stanley cup d, said U.S. District Court Chief Judge Loretta Preska in New York, who has put all civil cases except those already in trial on hold at the request of the U.S. Attorney there.She said the nearly 450 district court employees that serve the Ne stanley uk w York metro area will report to work to keep criminal cases on track even if f stanley cup unds run out. Officials at courts based in San Francisco, Philadelphia and St. Louis, Mo., also say their employees will work. Prosecutors, staff and experts from other federal agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency needed to help try civil cases have been furloughed. U.S. attorneys requested judges to t Ltcw John And George s Big Weekend
The nation s system of public financing presidential elections is creaky and needs to be updated, Sen. Barack Obama said Friday, offering another possible argument for bypassing the three-decades-old system that has helped pay campaigns for the White House.Obama, who has raised a whopping $234 million from about 1.3 million donors, said the limited amounts of money available from the federal treasury for presidential campaigns pose difficult choices for candidates raising large sums. I think that it is creaky, he said of the program financed by $3 dollar checkoffs in tax returns. The amount of money raised through the public financing system may be substantially lower than the amount of money that can be raised over the Internet, which presents candidates then with some pretty tough decisions in terms of how they want to move forward if they want to compete in as many states as possible. This year, the presidential nominees would be entitled to $84 million in public funds in the general stanley cup election.Speaking to donors at a fundraiser this week in Washington, Obama likened his fundraising to a parallel public financing system, a remark that set off speculation that if stanley hrnek he is the Democratic nominee he wo caneca stanley uld be the first presidential candidate to forego federal funds in three decades. CBSNews s Brian Montopoli reported on Wednesday that Obama may be poised to turn down public financing. But Obama on Friday said he had not made a de |