(PS) Bullivant v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture et al

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STIPULATION AND PROPOSED M ODIFIED O RDER FOR L IFTING
STAY AND M ODIFYING PRETRIAL SCHEDULING O RDER
Melanie Bullivant
P.O. Box 105
Aguilar, CO 81020
(719) 680-8500
MelanieBullivant@use.startmail.com
Plaintiff
ERIC GRANT
United States Attorney
JOSEPH FRUEH
Assistant United States Attorney
501 I Street, Suite 10-100
Sacramento, CA 95814
E-mail: 	joseph.frueh@usdoj.gov
Telephone: (916) 554-2702
Facsimile: 	(916) 554-2900
Attorneys for Defendant
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
MELANIE BULLIVANT,
Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant.
No. 2:24-cv-01883-CSK
STIPULATION AND PROPOSED MODIFIED
ORDER FOR LIFTING STAY AND
MODIFYING PRETRIAL SCHEDULING
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties and subject to Court approval, that
(1) the stay in this action be lifted in light of the restoration of appropriations and the return of federal
employees to the workplace, and (2) the parties submit a joint stipulation and proposed order modifying
the current Pretrial Scheduling Order (see ECF 29) no later than December 19, 2025. The reasons for
this stipulation are as follows.
1. 	Undersigned counsel for the United States was first assigned to this matter on August 14,
2025, due to the imminent retirement of the previously assigned Assistant U.S. Attorney. At that time,
the undersigned counsel for the United States was preparing for and then conducted a jury trial before
Chief Judge Nunley from September 15 to 24, 2025.

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STIPULATION AND PROPOSED M ODIFIED O RDER FOR L IFTING
STAY AND M ODIFYING PRETRIAL SCHEDULING O RDER
2. 	One week after the conclusion of trial, the appropriations that had been funding the
Department of Justice expired, and appropriations to the Department lapsed at the end of the day on
September 30, 2025.
3. 	Since October 1, 2025, counsel for the United States has been prohibited by federal
statute from working on this case. See 31 U.S.C. § 1342 (prohibiting federal employees from working,
even on a voluntary basis, except in limited circumstances, including “emergencies involving the safety
of human life or the protection of property”). Attorneys and other employees of the United States Forest
Service and United States Department of Agriculture also were furloughed.
4. 	Although undersigned counsel for the United States was prohibited from working on this
and other civil matters, he was and still is required to work on numerous petitions for habeas corpus and
motions for temporary restraining orders (“TROs”) filed by noncitizens in immigration detention.
Indeed, since late summer 2025, the United States Attorney’s Office, like this Court, has been inundated
with these filings. Since just last Sunday, November 9, 2025, the United States Attorney’s Office
received 45 new habeas cases with 35 new TROs. The undersigned counsel for the United States has
averaged one or two new habeas matters or TROs each week, making it exceedingly difficult to predict
and plan for discovery, briefs, hearings, and other obligations in other ongoing civil matters.
5. 	Moreover, the undersigned Assistant U.S. Attorney is juggling numerous new case-
related obligations occasioned by ongoing staff and attorney departures from the United States
Attorney’s Office and the federal hiring freeze, see Memorandum for the Heads of Executive
Departments and Agencies (Apr. 17, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-
actions/2025/04/extension-of-hiring-freeze; Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and
Agencies (July 7, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ensuring-
accountability-and-prioritizing-public-safety-in-federal-hiring. The Office has been unable to hire any
new civil defense attorneys for several years, and just last week, it was announced that the Office’s
heads of defensive and affirmative civil litigation were resigning, effective this week and next.
6. 	On the morning of November 12, 2025, this Court issued an Order (1) approving the
parties’ stipulation to stay this action pending the restoration of appropriations to the Department of

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STIPULATION AND PROPOSED M ODIFIED O RDER FOR L IFTING
STAY AND M ODIFYING PRETRIAL SCHEDULING O RDER
Justice, and (2) directing the parties to file a joint stipulation and proposed order modifying the current
Pretrial Scheduling Order within seven days of the restoration of appropriations. See ECF 43.
7. 	On the night of November 12, 2025, the President signed a funding bill restoring
appropriations to the Department of Justice. The parties accordingly agree that the stay in this matter
may be lifted.
8. 	Notwithstanding the foregoing delays and interruptions to the ordinary course of
business, the parties are presently working to determine mutually agreeable dates for depositions and
responses to written discovery requests, as well as proposed modifications to the Pretrial Scheduling
Order. The parties respectfully request up to and including December 19, 2025, to file their proposed
modifications to the Pretrial Scheduling Order.
Respectfully submitted,
Dated: 	See original signed stipulation at ECF 48
MELANIE BULLIVANT
Plaintiff
Dated: 	ERIC GRANT
United States Attorney
By: 	See original signed stipulation at ECF 48
JOSEPH FRUEH
Assistant United States Attorney
Attorneys for Defendant
ORDER
The stay of this action is lifted. The parties are ordered to file their proposed modifications to the
Pretrial Scheduling Order on or by December 19, 2025.
This order also resolves filings at ECF Nos. 45 and 47.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: December 8, 2025
HON. CHI SOO KIM
United States Magistrate Judge
4, bull1883.24