Another set of deadlines emerged yesterday from the legal drama surrounding human embryonic stem cell research, in which two adult stem cell researchers have asked the courts to declare government funding for the research illegal, because human embryos must be destroyed to produce stem cell lines. (For an overview of the case, see here.)

The chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia set 14 and 28 October as the next deadlines for lawyers to file documents convincing him that he should take their side in the case without further ado. (The legal term for this is called a “motion for summary judgment.”) Lawyers for the plaintiffs, James Sherley and Theresa Deisher, must file their briefs by 14 October; lawyers for the government by the 28th. The actual text of the judge’s order looks like this:

“It is furthermore ORDERED that the briefing schedule is as follows: Plaintiffs’ Combined Reply in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment, Opposition to the Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment, and Response to Briefs of Amici Curiae is due October 14, 2010; and Defendants’ Reply in Support of the Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment is due October 28, 2010. It is furthermore ORDERED that the page limitation on Plaintiffs’ Combined Reply, Opposition, and Response Memorandum is extended to 55 pages. Signed by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth on October 5, 2010.”

If these dates look familiar, that’s because they are exactly the same as two filing deadlines set last week by a higher court that also has the case before it: the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That court, which is hearing the government’s appeal of the district court’s 23 August preliminary injunction barring government funding for the research, said that government lawyers need to file briefs with it by 14 October, and lawyers for the plaintiffs by 28 October. Government lawyers will then be able to file again, responding to the plaintiffs’ brief, by 4 November. Oral arguments will follow soon thereafter.

Observers watching the case in Washington said today that they expect Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the lower, district court, where the motion for summary judgment is being considered, to await the action of the higher, appeals court, before reaching any decision himself. But that is not guaranteed. Whenever he rules, Lamberth could find for the plaintiffs, or for the defendants, or he could find that neither side has convinced him of the need for summary judgment, and that the case must instead go to trial.

For full coverage of this ongoing story see Nature‘s stem cell injunction news special.