To stem the flow of lengthy court papers pouring into judges’ chambers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a standing order in January announcing that motions to file briefs over a limit of 14,000 words or 30 pages would be granted only selectively.
Three months later, there are only nine long-form motions in the pipeline. This, according to Third Circuit Chief Judge Theodore McKee, places the Third Circuit in line with the New York-based Second Circuit. McKee told a group of lawyers gathered at the Philadelphia Bar Association last week that most federal appeals courts don’t allow any briefs over the federally mandated 30-page, or 14,000-word, limit. The Second Circuit does on a selective basis and it gets about 10 motions in excess of the limit each month. The Third Circuit is now enforcing the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure in requiring that briefs submitted to the court conform to the limits.
