The modern 'government shutdown' emerged from a 1980 Attorney General opinion interpreting the Antideficiency Act, which converted budget lapses into agency closures. Before this, departments created 'coercive deficits' by spending early, forcing Congress to backfill. Since most spending continues automatically during a shutdown, the spectacle primarily serves political leverage.
— Reframing shutdowns as a fixable legal artifact, not just party brinkmanship, directs reform toward statute and interpretation rather than annual blame cycles.
Sam Negus
2026.01.13
75% relevant
Both pieces show how legal interpretations and court practice create political realities that outlast their authors — Arlyck’s account argues admiralty/prize cases helped build federal sovereignty in ways historians have missed, parallel to how the Civiletti opinion turned appropriations law into the modern 'shutdown' mechanism; the actor/evidence link is the causal power of judicial and executive legal choices to reshape political institutions.
Christian Browne
2026.01.13
78% relevant
Both pieces show how statutory interpretation or an administrative/legal opinion can transform political theater into binding operational outcomes. Browne’s article argues state correction law (not local resolutions) legally requires Rikers remain open until replaced—analogous to how the Civiletti opinion converted budget lapses into the modern shutdown mechanism.
David Hebert & Paul Mueller
2025.10.03
100% relevant
The article cites the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act and Benjamin Civiletti’s 1980 opinion as the origin of shutdown dynamics, and notes ~80% of activity continues during shutdowns.
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