A court holiday matters for a deadline only on the last day of a period, and only if the rule that governs your case treats that day as a holiday. Different court systems answer that question with different lists, and they disagree most about holidays that fall on a weekend.
Choose a year
- Court holidays 2026: the rest of this year, including the year-end closures courts have announced.
- Court holidays 2027: official lists for every system we cover.
- Court holidays 2028: the official federal list and state dates projected from statute.
How each system treats a weekend holiday
When a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, some systems observe it on the nearest weekday and some do not. That decides whether the Friday before or the Monday after is a day off for counting purposes.
| Court system | Saturday holiday | Sunday holiday | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal courts | Observed the Friday before | Observed the Monday after | 5 U.S.C. § 6103(b); Executive Order 11582 |
| California courts | Observed the Friday before | Observed the Monday after | Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.11 |
| Texas | Not moved | Not moved | Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 662.003, 662.005 |
| New York | Not moved | Observed the Monday after (not Flag Day) | Gen. Constr. Law § 24 |
| Pennsylvania | Not moved | Monday after, for New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day and Christmas | 44 P.S. § 12 |
| Illinois courts | Observed the Friday before (the 2027 order did not move New Year’s Day 2028) | Observed the Monday after | Supreme Court holiday order |
| Florida courts | Observed the Friday before | Observed the Monday after | Fla. Stat. § 110.117 |
| Georgia | Friday before, by the Governor’s memo (New Year’s Day 2028 not moved) | Monday after, by the memo | O.C.G.A. § 1-4-1; Governor’s yearly memo |
Even where a Saturday holiday is not moved, a court may still close on the Friday by order. Those closures are listed with each year’s tables and, where they are not legal holidays, the calculators flag them instead of moving a deadline.
The same day, different answers
Three days show how far the lists diverge. Columbus Day is a federal holiday and a holiday in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois courts, but California courts are open and it is on neither the Florida nor the Texas list. Juneteenth closes federal, California, New York and Illinois courts and is a Texas state holiday under the name Emancipation Day, yet Florida’s statutory list leaves it out. The day after Thanksgiving is a court holiday in California, Illinois and Florida and a Texas state holiday, while federal and New York courts stay open unless a court orders otherwise. A deadline that lands on one of these days can be timely in one courthouse and late across the street.
Lists, closures and the day a deadline really moves
Three kinds of day can stop a deadline:
- Legal holidays fixed by statute or rule, the same for every court in the system.
- Court holidays and closures a court declares for itself, such as a circuit’s Good Friday or a district’s day after Thanksgiving.
- Days the clerk’s office is inaccessible, for example in a storm, which most rules treat separately from holidays.
The year pages cover the first two. For the third, enter the day in the calculator under Was the court closed on a day in the period?
Using the calendars
Every table can be downloaded as an .ics file for Outlook, Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, or as a CSV for a spreadsheet, from the bottom of each year’s page. To count a deadline with these dates already applied, use the deadline calculator or one of the court-specific calculators linked from it.
Questions about court holidays
Are state holidays court holidays?
Not always. California courts stay open on several state holidays, such as Columbus Day, and Illinois courts on Pulaski Day and Good Friday; conversely, California and Florida courts close on the day after Thanksgiving, which is not a state legal holiday in every list. Each system’s pages here use the court list, with the state list shown where it matters.
Is the day after Thanksgiving a court holiday?
In California, Illinois, Florida and Georgia courts, yes; in federal, New York and Pennsylvania courts it is not a legal holiday, although many courts close by order. A deadline landing on it moves in the first group and is flagged in the second, because an announced closure is not the same as a holiday for computing time.
What happens when a holiday falls on a Saturday?
Federal, California, Illinois, Florida and Georgia observe it on the Friday before, so that Friday is a closed day; Texas, New York and Pennsylvania do not move it, so the Friday is an ordinary court day. Sunday holidays move to Monday in most systems, with Texas again the exception.
Do federal courts observe state holidays?
Only for deadlines counted forward. Rule 6(a)(6)(C) treats a holiday declared by the state where the district court sits as a legal holiday for the last day of a forward period, but not for periods counted backward. The federal calculator applies the forum state’s list when you choose the state.
How do I add these dates to my calendar?
Each year’s page offers every list as an .ics file, which Outlook, Google Calendar and Apple Calendar import directly, and as a CSV for a spreadsheet. The files are regenerated whenever a list changes, and the changelog records each change.