Federal trial and appellate courts are grappling ever more with requests from U.S. government agencies to postpone cases as the Trump administration's partial government shutdown enters record-setting territory for the number of days employees have been kept from their offices or forced to work without pay.

The U.S. Justice Department went to court in the days after the shutdown began in late December asking judges to postpone filing dates and hearing schedules until funding is restored to government agencies. Government lawyers argued they can only work in limited circumstances that involve human life and the protection of property. Some judges spurned those requests for delays, while others paused proceedings.

Down the street from the U.S. Capitol, two judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit argued with each other Wednesday—in a court ruling—about whether a hearing scheduled for Friday in a Federal Aviation Administration case should be postponed. Judge Sri Srinivasan, joined by Judge Harry Edwards, said the hearing must go on. Judge A. Raymond Randolph said there was no rationale for denying the FAA's request to postpone the argument.