The legal wrangling over the federal contractor implementation date appears to be coming to its final(?) end as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has now also denied the plaintiffs’ motion for an injunction to stop the E-Verify federal contractor rule’s implementation. According to court documents, plaintiffs filed this motion with the appeals court on Friday, the government responded on Sunday, and a denial order was just filed today.

The next legal obstacle is the extension of the E-Verify program itself, which is set to expire in three weeks (September 30, 2009) unless Congress takes action to continue its funding. Earlier this year, both houses proposed extending the E-Verify program as part of the fiscal year 2010 DHS appropriations bill. The House version proposed a two year extension, while the Senate, led by Senator Jeff Sessions, proposed a permanent reauthorization along with a requirement that federal contractors and subcontractors use the system for all new hires and employees assigned to a contract. Given the disparity between these proposals, the actual provisions will need to be reconciled and approved in the coming weeks.