1 ADAM R.F. GUSTAFSON Acting Assistant Attorney General 2 Environment and Natural Resources Division United States Department of Justice 3 JACOB JOSE 4 Trial Attorney Wildlife and Marine Resources Section 5 P.O. Box 7611 Washington, D.C. 20044-7611 6 Phone: (202) 341-1749/Fax: (202) 305-0506 [email protected] 7

8 ERIC GRANT United States Attorney 9 EDWARD A. OLSEN 10 Assistant United States Attorney 501 I Street, Suite 10-100 11 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 554-2700 12 [email protected] 13 Attorneys for Defendants

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15 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 16 SACRAMENTO DIVISION

17 18 ) CHARLENE TOBIN, CARL MROZEK, ) No. 2:25-cv-02259-CSK 19 and CRAIG DOWNER, ) ) MODIFIED ORDER ON 20 Plaintiffs, ) FEDERAL DEFENDANTS’ ) MOTION FOR A STAY OF 21 v. ) BRIEFING IN LIGHT OF LAPSE 22 ) OF APPROPRIATIONS BROOKE L. ROLLINS, in her official ) (First Request) 23 capacity as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, ) et al., ) 24 ) Defendants. ) 25 ) 26 27 FED. DEFS.’ MOT. FOR STAY 1 Federal Defendants hereby move for a stay, including the pending deadline for 2 Federal Defendants to file their reply brief on October 6, 2025, in the above-captioned 3 case. See ECF No. 12. 4 1. At the end of the day on September 30, 2025, the appropriations act that 5 had been funding the Department of Justice expired and those appropriations to the 6 Department lapsed. The same is true for most other Executive agencies. The Department 7 8 does not know when such funding will be restored by Congress. 9 2. Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of 10 the Federal Defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in 11 very limited circumstances, including “emergencies involving the safety of human life or 12 the protection of property.”

. 13 3. For this reason, no work will occur on the removal decision at issue in this 14 15 case and the gather of wild horses will not occur during this lapse in appropriations. 16 Regardless of the duration of the lapse in appropriations, no gather will occur before 17 November 7, 2025. 18 4. Undersigned counsel for the Department of Justice therefore requests a stay 19 of this case, including all pending deadlines, until Congress has restored appropriations to 20 the Department. 21 22 5. If this motion for a stay is granted, undersigned counsel will notify the 23 Court as soon as Congress has appropriated funds for the Department. Once 24 appropriations are restored and the stay is lifted, the parties will confer to determine what 25 deadlines, if any, need to be extended as a result of the lapse in appropriations, and the 26 27 FED. DEFS.’ MOT. FOR STAY 1 parties will either submit a stipulation or Federal Defendants will file a motion requesting 2 new deadlines. 3 6. Opposing counsel has authorized counsel for the Government to state that 4 Plaintiffs do not oppose a stay as long as no gather will occur until the Court rules on the 5 case, i.e. the pending motion for summary judgment. 6 7. Federal Defendants maintain their commitment to provide Plaintiffs, and 7 8 the Court, with two weeks advance notice before conducting an initial gather. 9 Therefore, although we greatly regret any disruption caused to the Court 10 and Plaintiffs, the Government hereby moves for a stay of this case until Department of 11 Justice attorneys are permitted to resume their usual civil litigation functions. 12 13 Submitted on this 1st day of October, 2025.

14 ADAM R.F. GUSTAFSON Acting Assistant Attorney General 15 Environment and Natural Resources Division

16 United States Department of Justice 17 By: /s/Jacob Jose_______________ 18 JACOB JOSE (Co Bar No. 59582) Trial Attorney 19 Wildlife and Marine Resources Section P.O. Box 7611 20 Washington, D.C. 20044-7611 21 ERIC GRANT 22 United States Attorney 23 EDWARD A. OLSEN Assistant United States Attorney 24

25 Attorneys for Defendants

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27 FED. DEFS.’ MOT. FOR STAY 1 MODIFIED ORDER 2 A court may stay proceedings as part of its inherent power “to control the 3 disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for 4 counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co.,

(1936); see also Clinton 5 ‘ v. Jones,

(1997) (“The District Court has broad discretion to stay proceedings as an incident to its power to control its own docket.”). Federal Defendants 7 g || have stated that “[r]egardless of the duration of the lapse in appropriations, no gather will 9 || occur before November 7, 2025.” Federal Defendants also “maintain their commitment to 10 provide Plaintiffs, and the Court, with two weeks advance notice before conducting an 1] initial gather.” In light of the lapse of appropriations due to the government shutdown, the 12 Court exercises its inherent power to control its own docket and GRANTS Defendants’ 13 14 motion for a temporary stay due to the lapse in appropriations. 1S Therefore, the October 6, 2025 deadline for Federal Defendants’ reply brief is 16 VACATED and the October 17, 2025 hearing on the parties’ pending cross-motions for 17 8 summary judgment is VACATED. As soon as funds have been appropriated, Federal

19 Defendants will file a stipulation, motion, or a status report providing an update and 20 || proposed schedule. The Court will then set a new briefing deadline and hearing date as 21 as the stay is lifted. 22 IT IS SO ORDERED 23 - 24 || Dated: October 2 , 2025 Chana Swe \_ Honorable Chi Soo Kim 25 United States Magistrate Judge Eastern District of California 27 FED. DEFS.’ MOT. FOR STAY 28