Proposed Amendment to Fifth Circuit Rule Addresses Loss of Quorum After Grant of Rehearing En Banc

Yesterday the clerk's office issued this notice soliciting public comment on a proposed change to Fifth Circuit Rule 41.3.  Here's a redline:

41.3 Effect of Granting Rehearing En Banc. Unless otherwise expressly provided, the granting of a rehearing en banc vacates the panel opinion and judgment of the court and stays the mandate. If, after voting a case en banc, the court lacks a quorum to act on the case for 30 consecutive days, the case is automatically returned to the panel, the panel opinion is reinstated as an unpublished (and hence nonprecedential) opinion, and the mandate is released. To act on a case, the en banc court must have a quorum consisting of a majority of the en banc court as defined in 28 U.S.C. § 46(c).

Comments are due by July 25, 2011.
 
If you're wondering what might have prompted this proposal, see this post by Professor Aaron Bruhl post over at Prawfsblawg.

UPDATE: More commentary from the professoriate at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Proposed Fifth Circuit Rules Changes

The clerk's office has posted this notice of proposed amendments to the Fifth Circuit Rules. On tap this time:

1. Amendments to time deadlines to comply with the proposed December 1, 2009 amendments to the FED. R. APP. P.

2. Replacing the word “shall” with “will” to be consistent with the previous linguistic preference in the FED. R. APP. P.

3. Modifications to our attorney admissions requirements, (Rule 46.1); and an updated reference to the May 2008, 5th Circuit Judicial Misconduct Rules, in Rule 47.9.

4. Addition of rules governing electronic case filing.

The first one is probably the most significant of the bunch. The notice explains:

In December 2009, the federal rules will change the way certain time deadlines are calculated and will adopt the “days are days” approach. This means all deadlines will be measured in calendar days, rather than the current system where deadlines of less than 11 days do not count intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. As a practical matter currently a 7 day deadline provides a party at least 10 days to act. With the change in counting methodology, many deadlines have been extended in the federal rules.

The fourth change would not actually implement mandatory electro-filing. The proposed rules instead set up the framework, and direct the clerk to fill in some of the details.

Want to see how the proposed amendments would operate on the existing rules? The notice contains a handy redline.

Want to comment on the proposed amendments? You may do so in writing or electronically. The deadline is August 10, 2009.

Amendments to Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Effective Today: Victims, Warrants, and Housekeeping

It's December 1st, and you know what that means: a new batch of amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure take effect.

Most of the changes implement the dictates of 18 U.S.C. § 3771, otherwise known as the Crime Victims' Rights Act, including a new Rule 60 enumerating various rights of victims along with an enforcement mechanism. Rule 41 now contains expanded authority for magistrates to issue certain kinds of warrants. And Rule 45(c) is the recipient of a technical amendment correcting the cross-reference to Rule 5 of the Civil Rules.

Documents you may be interested in:

• a more detailed summary of the amendments, courtesy of the Judical Conference's Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure
• a clean copy of the affected Rules with the amendments already incorporated (sorry, no redline)
• various other documents from the December 1, 2008 amendment cycle, for all you Rules wonks out there

Fifth Circuit Rules Changes Concerning Attorney Admissions, Recording of Oral Arguments

Last Friday, August 15th, a couple of changes to Fifth Circuit Rules took effect. The change to Rule 34.7 (Recording of Oral Arguments) is discussed here. Rule 46.1, concerning admission and fees, was amended to add another another category of attorneys who are exempt from the admission fee (those who are "newly graduated from law school, licensed to practice in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas, and on orders for extended active duty in the Judge Advocate General's Corps.")

The order adopting the changes is available here.

Fives Solict Comments On Proposed Change to Rule Concerning Recordings of Oral Arguments

The court has proposed an amendment to 5th Cir. R. 34.7, which currently prohibits the use of audio or video recording equipment during oral argument. The one exception is if a party hires a court reporter to transcribe the argument. In that case, the reporter may record the argument and use it to prepare the transcript, but must then destroy the recording and may not provide it to anyone. The proposed amendment eliminates the destruction requirement, and modifies the disclosure restriction to provide that the reporter "may not make any recordings of the oral argument available to counsel, a party, or any other person until the court posts its recording of the oral argument on the court’s Internet website."

Comments on the proposed amendment are due by July 16, 2008. Instructions for submitting comments, which may be done by regular mail or electronically, are provided in the court's notice.

Fifth Circuit Local Rules Changes Effective December 1, 2007

The Fifth Circuit has helpfully provided this summary of Local Rules changes that took effect on December 1st. Those changes include:

• elimination of the Rule 28.2 provisions concerning the "Summary of Argument," "Statement of Jurisdiction," and "Standard of Review;"
• amendment of Rule 30.1.2 to require filing of an electronic copy of the record exceprts (in PDF format), in addition to the paper copies;
• permitting counsel to file the electronic copies of briefs and record excepts on a CD instead of a diskette; and
• lowering the maximum taxable cost for reproduction of briefs, appendices, and record excerpts to 15 cents per page.

Memo Outlining Changes in Supreme Court Rules Taking Effect October 1, 2007

How Appealing hips us to this this handy memo from the Clerk of the Supreme Court outlining some of the more important changes to the Supreme Court Rules taking effect on October 1, 2007. (Prior coverage here.) And it also brings this groovy news: electronically filed briefs will be made available on the Court's website the next business day after filing. No word on cameras, though.