Report on Proposed Amendments to Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure

SUMMARY

The Committee on Federal Courts submitted comments on proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. The Committee opposes reducing the word limit for principal briefs from 14,000 to 12,500, and agrees with the proposal to provide for a volume limitation based on a word count for papers produced using computers, for petitions for permission to appeal (Rule 5), writs of mandamus (Rule 21), motions (Rule 27), petitions for hearing or rehearing en banc (Rule 35), and petitions for panel rehearing (Rule 40). However, the Committee believes the page-to-word conversion should be based on the convention of 280 words per page, utilized in connection with the 1998 amendments, for principal briefs and reply briefs, and that the applicable word limit for petitions for rehearing also shoud be based on the 280-word-per-page convention. In addition, the Committee objects to the proposal to shorten the current seven-day period for filing an amicus brief.