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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS No. 95-5080 MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF INDIANS OF FLORIDA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, ET AL. Defendant-Appellee. _________________
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FROM THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA _________________ FEDERAL APPELLEES' UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF The United States requests an extension of 18 days to and including February 27, 1996, to file its answering brief in this case. The brief otherwise would be due on February 9, 1996. The United States was granted one previous extension of time, which was requested due to the lapse in appropriations that resulted in the undersigned counsel being furloughed. A further extension is needed due to an extended interruption of work, and ensuing backlog, caused first by the lapse in appropriations for the Department of Justice and thereafter by the closing of the federal government in Washington, D.C. the week of January 8, 1996, for weather related reasons. Undersigned counsel, who is primarily responsible for this appeal, was furloughed from December 16 to January 3, 1996, 2 due to the lapse in appropriations for the Department of Justice. The week of January 8, 1996, counsel was unable to reach the office for four out of the five days due to snow. As a result of these unforeseen conditions undersigned counsel has an unusually heavy and backlogged case load. Counsel fully prepared and filed briefs (pursuant to extensions of time) on January 24, 1996, in Wright v. National Marine Fisheries Service, 9th Cir. No. 95-35964, and on January 26, 1996, in Noradoun v. National Marine Fisheries Service, 9th Cir. No. 9535963; counsel also assisted in preparation of a brief filed on January 22, 1996, in NRDC v. U.S. Dept.-of the Interior, 9th Cir. No. 95-56075. Counsel has been involved in a court-supervised mediation effort in Manybeads v. United States, 9th Cir. No. 9015003. Meetings scheduled by the court's mediator in Phoenix during the first two weeks in January were postponed due to the partial government shutdown and will be rescheduled for the near future. Counsel has to prepare for, and travel to, an oral argument on February 2, 1996, in United States v. Cherokee Resources, et al., 4th Cir. Nos. 94-5796, 94-5804, 94-5797. Any draft that undersigned counsel prepares in this case must be reviewed within the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice, a process that takes one week. Therefore, for timely filing, any draft would have to be completed well in advance of the due date. This cannot be done in light of other Professional responsibilities which predated the due date in the present case.
3 Counsel for appellant, Sonia Escobio O'Donnell, has been
consulted and does not oppose this motion.
90-5-1-1-4258 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing Federal Appellees' Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to File Brief was served upon the persons listed below by first class mail, postage prepaid this,30th day of January, 1996. Sonia Escobio O'Donnell, Esq.
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