Legal minds on legal matters and whatever else strikes our fancy.
To read any of these Supreme Court petitions, click the heading to open this post, then follow the links! Mondaca-Vega v. Lynch, filed on March 14, 2016 Michigan v. EPA, filed on March 14, 2016 Bowen v. Texas, filed on March 15, 2016
The first four parts of this series covered the Supreme Court appendix contents that are either required or that are too lengthy to leave in the brief. This final installment addresses a provision that allows pretty much anything, but that should be used with caution. Other Material Believed Essential. Rule 14.1(i)(vi) is the tempting catchall [...]
To read any of these Supreme Court petitions, click the heading to open this post, then follow the links! Kim v. Virginia, filed on February 29, 2016 Morales v. Lynch, filed on March 7, 2016 Flowers v. Troup Cnty. Sch. Dist., filed on March 10, 2016
Rehearing Denial. The last required appendix document may or may not exist, but if it does, it goes at the end of the required category. This would be an order denying rehearing by the court that issued the final judgment you are directly challenging. Rule 14.1(i)(iii). Or the last document may be something else, depending [...]
So far this series has covered the critical opening document of an appendix for a U.S. Supreme Court petition for certiorari. Now we move down the list in Sup. Ct. R. 14.1(i) to other must-have documents. Other Relevant Decisions. After the decision you actually want the Supreme Court to review comes a required category of [...]
Now that you know how to focus your purpose in selecting appendix documents, you have to narrow your selection to the particular categories set out in the Supreme Court Rules. Required: “Relevant” lower court/agency orders. The required petition appendix documents are all court or administrative agency orders of some stripe. Rule 14.1(i)(i-iv). One thing to [...]
When you are putting together a U.S. Supreme Court petition’s “appendix,” forget what you know about collections of documents going by the same name under lower federal court and state court appellate rules. Just read Supreme Court Rule 14.1(i). The rule’s limited categories of required documents reflect the high court’s unique role and the narrow [...]
The filing requirements in the thirteen federal circuit courts are complex, and often confusing. In addition to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, each circuit court operates under its own set of local rules—mandatory practice standards that periodically change, and sometimes conflict with the federal rules—and the various clerks’ offices often adhere to unwritten practices [...]
To read this Supreme Court petition, click the heading to open this post, then follow the link! Sandoz Inc. v. Amgen Inc., filed on February 16, 2016
Justice Antonin Scalia This Saturday, the owners and staff of Cockle Legal Briefs heard the news that Justice Antonin Scalia had passed away in the night. Our thoughts and prayers turn to his family, friends, and colleagues, and we join the rest of the nation in solemn remembrance of this iconic Supreme Court justice. Appointed to [...]