On December 2, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit seeking an expedited briefing schedule on its appeal of the district court injunction of the overtime rule that was scheduled to take effect on December 1.

In its motion—in State of Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor, No. 16-41606—the DOL requests a schedule that would require the appeal to be fully briefed by February 7, 2017 and noticed for argument as soon as possible thereafter.  (We note that this date is after the inauguration of President-elect Trump, which may well result in a change in litigation strategy by the DOL.  The district court has also yet to rule on the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, which also may affect the issues on, and timing of, the appeal.)

The DOL proposes that the Court of Appeals require the plaintiffs to respond to the motion by December 6, and that the Court issue a ruling on the motion by December 8.  If the Court grants the motion with the schedule proposed by the DOL, the agency’s opening brief would be filed on December 16, 2016.