Document Preparation: General Requirements

Every document, whether prepared under Rule 33.1 or Rule 33.2, shall comply with the following provisions: 1. Each document shall bear on its cover, in the order indi- cated, from the top of the page: 48 SUPREME COURT RULE 34 (a) the docket number of the case or, if there is none, a space for one; (b) the name of this Court; (c) the caption of the case as appropriate in this Court; (d) the nature of the proceeding and the name of the court from which the action is brought (e. g., “On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit”; or, for a merits brief, “On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit”); (e) the title of the document (e. g., “Petition for Writ of Certiorari,” “Brief for Respondent,” “Joint Appendix”); (f) the name of the attorney who is counsel of record for the party concerned (who must be a member of the Bar of this Court except as provided in Rule 9.1) and on whom service is to be made, with a notation directly thereunder identifying the attorney as counsel of record and setting out counsel’s office address, e-mail address, and telephone num- ber. Only one counsel of record may be noted on a single document, except that counsel of record for each party must be listed on the cover of a joint appendix. (g) The foregoing shall be displayed in an appropriate ty- pographical manner and, except for identification of counsel, may not be set in type smaller than standard 11-point, if the document is prepared as required by Rule 33.1. 2. Every document (other than a joint appendix), that ex- ceeds 1,500 words when prepared under Rule 33.1, or that exceeds five pages when prepared under Rule 33.2, shall con- tain a table of contents and a table of cited authorities (i. e., cases alphabetically arranged, constitutional provisions, statutes, treatises, and other materials) with references to the pages in the document where such authorities are cited. The table of authorities should not use the ‘‘passim’’ nota- tion, but should instead list every page on which an authority is cited. Page ranges may be used if the authority is cited on every page in the range (e. g., ‘‘7-10’’ instead of ‘‘7, 8, 9, 10’’). 3. The body of every document shall bear at its close the name of counsel of record and such other counsel, identified SUPREME COURT RULE 34 49 on the cover of the document in conformity with subpara- graph 1(f) of this Rule, as may be desired. 4. Every appendix to a document, including a statutory appendix, must include at the beginning of the appendix a table of contents that provides a description of each docu- ment in the appendix. 5. All references to a provision of federal statutory law should ordinarily be cited to the United States Code, if the provision has been codified therein. In the event the provi- sion has not been classified to the United States Code, cita- tion should be to the Statutes at Large. Additional or alter- native citations should be provided only if there is a particular reason why those citations are relevant or neces- sary to the argument. 6. A case in which privacy protection was governed by Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 25(a)(5), Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9037, Federal Rule of Civil Proce- dure 5.2, or Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49.1 is gov- erned by the same Rule in this Court. In any other case, privacy protection is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Pro- cedure 5.2, except that Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49.1 governs when an extraordinary writ is sought in a crimi- nal case. If the Court schedules briefing and oral argument in a case that was governed by Federal Rule of Civil Proce- dure 5.2(c) or Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49.1(c), the parties shall submit electronic versions of all prior and subsequent filings with this Court in the case, subject to the redaction Rules set forth above. 7. Where circumstances warrant, a party may file a motion for leave to file material under seal. (a) A motion to file material under seal should address whether the material in question was sealed in a lower court and, where applicable, provide a copy of the sealing order. (b) If the material was filed under seal in a lower court, the motion should identify the reasons that the material was sealed, state whether the seal remains in effect as to each of the relevant documents, and address why it remains neces- sary to continue to maintain the confidentiality of the infor- 50 SUPREME COURT RULE 35 mation in this Court. If the material was not filed under seal in a lower court, the motion should state with specificity why sealing is necessary in this Court in the first instance. (c) The motion should address why it is necessary that the material to be sealed be included in the filing. (d) Where possible, the movant should provide a redacted copy of the material for the public record. If this is not feasible, the motion should state the reasons that it is not. Where the material sought to be filed under seal is part of an appendix to the filing, it should be presented in a separate, supplemental volume of the appendix. (e) Where possible, the motion itself should be drafted so that it may be filed on the public record. If this is not feasi- ble, the motion may be filed under seal, preferably with a redacted copy for the public record. The motion should re- flect the position of other parties to the case concerning whether sealing of the material is appropriate. (f) Material that is sought to be filed under seal should be marked ‘‘Under Seal’’ on the cover and on every page of the document. The redacted copy for the public record, when provided, should be marked ‘‘Public Copy—Sealed Materials Redacted’’ on the cover page of the document. (g) The parties must promptly notify the Court if it is no longer necessary for material previously filed under seal to remain under seal. A motion filed under this Rule shall comply in every re- spect with Rule 21. Where a motion to file under seal is filed, the parties should treat the material as under seal until the Court rules on the motion. Neither the motion to file a document under seal nor any document containing sealed material should be submitted through the Court’s electronic filing system.