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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 [...]