The Treasury Department said Jan. 24 the reporting deadline for the Corporate Transparency Act will remain on hold indefinitely, as legal maneuvering over the anti-money laundering law continues.

The U.S. Supreme Court lifted one nationwide injunction against the law on Jan. 23, but the Justice Department has yet to take any action to lift a second nationwide stay of the reporting deadline.

As long as the second stay remains in place, companies are not required to submit reports, according to the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle in East Texas issued the stay Jan. 7 in Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury. As of early Monday, nearly two weeks after the ruling, the Justice Department has yet to appeal.

The department did not immediately respond Monday to a request to comment.

The Biden Justice Department vigorously fought a nationwide stay ordered in December by U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, also in the Eastern District for Texas, in a case titled Texas Top Cop Shop.

The Supreme Court lifted Mazzant’s order, but has not been asked to rule on Kernodle’s identical order.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee, was the only justice who opposed lifting Mazzant’s stay. The government won’t be harmed by delaying the reporting deadline, according to Jackson.

The legal maze has been caused by conflicting rulings arising from the many lawsuits pending in federal courts across the country. Three federal judges have ruled the act unconstitutional, while two have upheld the law.

“We just get whipped from one side to the other,” said Portland attorney Julie Parrish, who is representing Oregonians who are suing to overturn the law. The case is pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We have a new administration, and it’s really unclear what the administration is going to do with the cases,” she said. “The normal MO of the government has been to immediately appeal when they get a ruling they don’t like.

“My preference long-term is that get a ruling that this exceeded congressional authority and violated civil liberties. Then we won’t get legislation like this in the future,” Parrish said.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule soon, pushing the issue a step closer to the Supreme Court for an ultimate decision.

The law requires small business owners and their top employees to submit photo identification and personal information to federal financial crime investigators. Congress passed the law to uncover high-level crimes.

The ruling by Judge Kernodle, a Trump appointee, is currently setting government policy. “CTA is unprecedented in its breadth and expands federal power beyond constitutional limits,” he wrote.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said in a statement the law will blanket farms and ranches in red tape and subject millions of law-abiding small business owners to penalties.

“We urge President Trump, and his nominee for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to rescue millions of American small business owners from these burdensome reporting requirements and delay enforcement until a meaningful solution is found,” the association’s executive director of government affairs Kent Bacus said.