CAAF orientation
Today’s CAAF orientation was chock full of interesting and useful information.
Chief Judge Effron opened the session and noted the upcoming celebration of the CAAF courthouse’s 100th anniversary. The courthouse originally belonged to the D.C. Circuit. Chief Justice Roberts and D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sentelle will attend part of the anniversary event on 1 October at 1000.
Chief Judge Effron also noted the upcoming CAAF/JAA Appellate Advocacy Symposium, which will be held on 15 October at the George Mason University School of Law.
In April, CAAF was named here as having one of the worst-designed websites in the entire U.S. government. Here was the write-up about the site:
[T]he US Court of Appeals site for the Armed Forces sums up most abandoned or ancient-feeling government Web sites. Featuring bland tan tables, cheesy animated-GIFs, standard blue hyperlinks, and terribly shaded images, this unusable Web design represents everything we must ban the government from creating or continuing to host.
But not for much longer. Mr. DeCicco announced that CAAF’s redesigned website will soon be launched. He indicated it would look much like the Supreme Court’s website. And this is cool–the website will provide the parties’ briefs on cases to be orally argued.
Mr. DeCicco announced a change in the court’s policy. In the past, the court has automatically granted review in any case in which the accused is serving 30 years or more of confinement, which had the effect of allowing the accused to file a cert petition. No more. CAAF will no longer grant and summarily affirm in cases with lengthy confinement but no meritorious issue. This change in policy comes in the wake of the recent formal change to Rule 21(b)(5) suggesting that CAAF would no longer automatically grant review in cases that had previously been granted and then remanded to the CCA. Under that change, a supp must specify any “issue or issues on which certiorari review would be sought, whether related to the remand or to the original decision by this Court.”
Chief Deputy Clerk of Court David Anderson noted that the court was unlikely to grant any motion to exceed the page limit in a non-capital case. The recent change shrinking the maximum size of supps from 14,000 words to 9,000 words was also discussed.
Mr. DeCicco and Mr. Anderson both noted that CAAF has substantially speeded up review of cases on its petition docket. Mr. DeCicco said the last term ended with fewer than 100 pending petitions.
Mr. DeCicco expected roughly the same number of oral arguments this term as last. (Last term there were 43.)
Mr. DeCicco discussed the expansion of electronic filing to allow just about everything other than Joint Appendices and requests for bar admission to be filed electronically. He emphasized what should not appear in electronically filed briefs: SSNs, bank account numbers, sexual assault victims’ names, and children’s names.
This term’s Project Outreach arguments will be at Brooklyn Law School on 2 November, at Hofstra University Law School on 3 November, and at Stanford University Law School and the University of the Pacific (McGeorge) Law School in the spring.
Mr. DeCicco also provided a list of common errors in pleadings:
1. Pleadings typed in Times New Roman instead of Courier or Courier New with 12-point type
2. No bar number
3. No Court of Criminal Appeals decision attached to the Supplement
4. Pleadings exceeding the maximum number of pages permitted without a certificate on word/line count
5. Affidavits attached to pleadings as an “appendix” without a motion to attach them
6. Incorporating a motion within another pleading
7. Including appellant’s SSN in a supplement, answer, or brief
8. Wrong docket number
9. Untimely filings
10. Improper drafting of isue statements. “Issues should be short, and not argumentative, repetitive or conclusory. Read them over before filing the supplement to make sure they are clear and make sense.”
NIMJ’s executive director, Michelle Lindo McCluer, has helpfully posted the handouts from the orientation here. Her synopsis of the orientation is available here.
MOAR CAAF PICS PLS
Can anyone go to the CAAF 100th anniversary, or is it limited access? Ironically, I can’t find an answer on the CAAF website.
Sorry, I should have included that. Chief Judge Effron said it’s open to everyone, though I wouldn’t be surprised if the courtroom fills up and they have to turn folks away.
And I suppose the second question is what time do the festivities start?
Rob M — that is in my original post. :-) 1000.
Yes, but it’s easier to ask than expend the effort to, you know, read and try to find the answer myself…