Shoes That Did Not Drop

I take "Shoes That Did Not Drop"' as my topic because I appreciate, by now, that what the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules does not do is, in some ways, as important as what it does. Similarly, the decision not to do something is equally important as, and may be more difficult than, the decision to do something. It may sometimes seem that amending the Rules is too easy. Greg Joseph once said that they are amended as often as the telephone book.

Some even think that it was a mistake to create a Rules Committee.3 These reactions are overstated, however. Amendments do not and should not happen often. Amending the rules is not easy and should not be.