At Cockle Legal Briefs, we work with quite a few non-lawyers who are writing a legal brief for the U.S. Supreme Court. Occasionally our conversations with pro se customers move beyond the necessary formatting and content requirements for a Supreme Court brief, and into more basic questions of legal writing. Over time, we have come [...]
At Cockle Legal Briefs, we work with quite a few non-lawyers filing a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. Occasionally our conversations with our pro se customers move beyond the necessary formatting and content requirements for a Supreme Court brief, and into more basic questions of legal writing. Over time, we [...]
Supreme Court Rule 33.1 sets out the requirements for the legal brief format. Subpart (b) of that Rule provides very specific directions for the font: Supreme Court booklet briefs must be typeset in a Century family type. Why so specific? Century is a fairly common font, but it is not as universal as, say, Times [...]
Supreme Court Rule 37.2 discusses the requirements for filing an amicus curiae brief at the petition stage. Merits-stage amicus curiae briefs are covered in Rule 37.3. One important distinction between petition- and merits-stage amicus curiae brief filings is that petition-stage amici must give the parties notice of their intention to file at least ten days [...]
Respondents are not required to file a brief in opposition [except in capital cases], but if you do intend to file a brief in opposition, Supreme Court Rule 15 offers an important caution: [T]he brief in opposition should address any perceived misstatement of fact or law in the petition that bears on what issues properly [...]
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals—like all of the federal circuit courts—uses both the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (FRAP), as well as its own set of local rules (LR). The FRAP lays out general practice standards for all of the federal appellate courts, but also allows the circuits to issue their own rules that [...]
At Cockle Legal Briefs, we work with quite a few non-lawyers filing their own petitions in the U.S. Supreme Court. Occasionally our conversations with these pro se litigants move beyond the necessary formatting and content requirements for a Supreme Court brief, and into more basic questions of legal writing. Over time, we have come up [...]
Many of the petitions filed in the U.S. Supreme Court each term are filed by prisoners representing themselves. And most of these prisoner pro se petitions are filed on the Court’s in forma pauperis [IFP] docket. With the petition, IFP petitioners file a sworn affidavit describing their financial resources. Prisoners—who typically have little or no [...]
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals—like all of the federal circuit courts—uses both the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (FRAP), as well as its own set of local rules. The FRAP lays out general practice standards for all of the federal appellate courts, but also allows the circuits to issue their own rules that can [...]
Filers and practitioners talk about the “writ of certiorari” all the time. We petition for the writ, oppose the writ, evaluate the chances for the writ, and contemplate the implications of the writ. The words “writ,” “writ of cert,” and “writ of certiorari” pepper the pages of Supreme Court filings—written and read with complete understanding [...]