Now that the federal shutdown is over, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart is restarting his review of the new collective bargaining agreement with SPOG, as well as the arbitrator’s ruling reinstating Officer Adley Shepherd.
When the shutdown began in December the DOJ was rapidly approaching a filing deadline, but its staff were furloughed. Upon their request, Robart granted a stay of the filing schedule until the government reponed.
In a filing today, Robart officially lifted the stay and set new filing deadlines. The DOJ will file its response to the city’s brief (which was filed before the shutdown) by February 13th; the CPC may optionally file a brief by the same date (they almost certainly will). Then the City of Seattle will file its reply by February 20th.
Expect Robart to schedule a hearing with all the parties for shortly after the 20th.
While the case was in abeyance, the city got some related good news: a judge agreed to hear its appeal of Officer Shepherd’s arbitration ruling. It will no doubt continue to play up its appeal as it tries to convince Robart that it remains in compliance with the consent decree despite Shepherd’s reinstatement.
On the flip side, the Seattle Times reported that the city delayed the release of the arbitrator’s ruling until after the City Council voted on the SPOG contract. Robart will no doubt want to hear more about that decision.