Rule 27 — Motions

Fed. R. App. P. 27

• Source: Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure
• Rule: 27
• TITLE VII: GENERAL PROVISIONS
• Citation: Fed. R. App. P. 27

Text

(a) In General.
(1) Application for Relief. An application for an order or
other relief is made by motion unless these rules prescribe an-
other form. A motion must be in writing unless the court per-
mits otherwise.
(2) Contents of a Motion.
(A) Grounds and relief sought. A motion must state with
particularity the grounds for the motion, the relief sought,
and the legal argument necessary to support it.
(B) Accompanying documents.
(i) Any affidavit or other paper necessary to support
a motion must be served and filed with the motion.
(ii) An affidavit must contain only factual informa-
tion, not legal argument.
(iii) A motion seeking substantive relief must in-
clude a copy of the trial court’s opinion or agency’s de-
cision as a separate exhibit.
(C) Documents barred or not required.
(i) A separate brief supporting or responding to a mo-
tion must not be filed.
(ii) A notice of motion is not required.
(iii) A proposed order is not required.
(3) Response.
(A) Time to file. Any party may file a response to a mo-
tion; Rule 27(a)(2) governs its contents. The response must
be filed within 10 days after service of the motion unless
the court shortens or extends the time. A motion author-
ized by Rules 8, 9, 18, or 41 may be granted before the 10-
day period runs only if the court gives reasonable notice to
the parties that it intends to act sooner.

(B) Request for affirmative relief. A response may in-
clude a motion for affirmative relief. The time to respond
to the new motion, and to reply to that response, are gov-
erned by Rule 27(a)(3)(A) and (a)(4). The title of the re-
sponse must alert the court to the request for relief.
(4) Reply to Response. Any reply to a response must be filed
within 7 days after service of the response. A reply must not
present matters that do not relate to the response.
(b) Disposition of a Motion for a Procedural Order. The court
may act on a motion for a procedural order—including a motion
under Rule 26(b)—at any time without awaiting a response, and
may, by rule or by order in a particular case, authorize its clerk
to act on specified types of procedural motions. A party adversely
affected by the court’s, or the clerk’s, action may file a motion to
reconsider, vacate, or modify that action. Timely opposition filed
after the motion is granted in whole or in part does not constitute
a request to reconsider, vacate, or modify the disposition; a mo-
tion requesting that relief must be filed.
(c) Power of a Single Judge to Entertain a Motion. A circuit
judge may act alone on any motion, but may not dismiss or other-
wise determine an appeal or other proceeding. A court of appeals
may provide by rule or by order in a particular case that only the
court may act on any motion or class of motions. The court may
review the action of a single judge.
(d) Form of Papers; Length Limits; Number of Copies.
(1) Format.
(A) Reproduction. A motion, response, or reply may be
reproduced by any process that yields a clear black image
on light paper. The paper must be opaque and unglazed.
Only one side of the paper may be used.
(B) Cover. A cover is not required, but there must be a
caption that includes the case number, the name of the
court, the title of the case, and a brief descriptive title in-
dicating the purpose of the motion and identifying the
party or parties for whom it is filed. If a cover is used, it
must be white.
(C) Binding. The document must be bound in any manner
that is secure, does not obscure the text, and permits the
document to lie reasonably flat when open.
(D) Paper size, line spacing, and margins. The document
must be on 81⁄
2
by 11 inch paper. The text must be double-
spaced, but quotations more than two lines long may be
indented and single-spaced. Headings and footnotes may be
single-spaced. Margins must be at least one inch on all
four sides. Page numbers may be placed in the margins,
but no text may appear there.
(E) Typeface and type styles. The document must comply
with the typeface requirements of Rule 32(a)(5) and the
type-style requirements of Rule 32(a)(6).
(2) Length Limits. Except by the court’s permission, and ex-
cluding the accompanying documents authorized by Rule
27(a)(2)(B):
(A) a motion or response to a motion produced using a
computer must not exceed 5,200 words;

(B) a handwritten or typewritten motion or response to
a motion must not exceed 20 pages;
(C) a reply produced using a computer must not exceed
2,600 words; and
(D) a handwritten or typewritten reply to a response
must not exceed 10 pages.
(3) Number of Copies. An original and 3 copies must be filed
unless the court requires a different number by local rule or
by order in a particular case.
(e) Oral Argument. A motion will be decided without oral argu-
ment unless the court orders otherwise.

Advisory Committee Notes

(As amended Apr. 1, 1979, eff. Aug. 1, 1979; Apr. 25, 1989, eff. Dec. 1, 1989; Apr. 29, 1994, eff. Dec. 1, 1994; Apr. 24, 1998, eff. Dec. 1, 1998; Apr. 29, 2002, eff. Dec. 1, 2002; Apr. 25, 2005, eff. Dec. 1, 2005; Mar. 26, 2009, eff. Dec. 1, 2009; Apr. 28, 2016, eff. Dec. 1, 2016.)