5th Cir. R. 31.3 — Briefs - Time for Mailing or Delivery to a Commercial Carrier

High confidence· verified September 26, 2026Local Rules

Summary

5th Cir. R. 31.3 — Briefs - Time for Mailing or Delivery to a Commercial Carrier: the court's own rule, verbatim from RULES and INTERNAL OPERATING PROCEDURES OF THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT (December 2025), official PDF, sha-custodied. Court-level requirement: applies to appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit alongside the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Requirement

The appellant must send his or her brief to the clerk not later than 40 days after the date of the briefing notice. Pursuant to FED. R. APP. P. 26(c), the appellee has 33 days from the appellant’s date of the certificate of service to place the appellee’s brief in the mail, file it with the clerk electronically where permitted, or to give it to a third-party commercial carrier for delivery within 3 days. This rule is effective ONLY when the appellant has effected service by mail or via delivery to a commercial carrier for delivery within 3 days and may not be combined with the additional time provisions of FED. R. APP. P. 26(c) to give the appellee 36 days to file a brief. The certificate of service required by FED. R. APP. P. 25(d) is placed in the brief as specified in 5TH CIR. R. 28.3, and must be dated. See 5TH CIR. R. 39.2 for limitations on recovery of certain mailing and commercial delivery costs.

Source of truth

The appellant must send his or her brief to the clerk not later than 40 days after the date of the briefing notice. Pursuant to FED. R. APP. P. 26(c), the appellee has 33 days from the appellant’s date of the certificate of service to place the appellee’s brief in the mail, file

Official source: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit (Rules & Procedures)
Source health: Healthy · checked October 4, 2026
Effective date: —
Last verified: September 26, 2026benchpath-appfed-rules-2026-09-25

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