rules of the Supreme Court

During its first term, in 1790, the Supreme Court established rules for its activities. Since then, the Court has occasionally revised the rules. The rules and revisions are published in the United States Reports.

Changes in the rules may be proposed by one or more of the justices, by members of the bar, or by committees of lawyers and members of the federal judiciary that the Court creates to review the rules. By tradition, the justices agree upon revisions of the rules by consensus, not by a formal majority vote.

The rules cover various aspects of the Court's work. For example, there are rules to be followed by attorneys in Court proceedings. Rule 38 regulates an advocate's behavior during the oral argument, when a case is heard by the Court. The attorney presenting an oral argument may speak no longer than 30 minutes and may not read the oral argument. The rule says, “The Court looks with disfavor on any oral argument that is read from a prepared text.” There are rules on the format, content, and length of certain documents involved in Court proceedings. For example, Rule 33 says that a lawyer's brief, submitted to the Court in advance of the oral argument in a case, must not be more than 50 typeset pages in length. Rule 34 specifies the contents and format of a brief and states, “Briefs must be compact, logically arranged with proper headings, concise, and free from burdensome, irrelevant, immaterial, or scandalous matter.” One group of rules specifies the duties of the Court's officers, such as the clerk, librarian, and reporter of decisions. Another category of rules pertains to the Court's jurisdiction, or the types of cases it has the authority to review and hear. As of 1993, there were 48 rules of the Court.