Civiletti Opinion Invented Shutdowns

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.