5th Cir. R. 8.1 — Documents Required

High confidence· verified September 26, 2026Local Rules

Summary

5th Cir. R. 8.1 — Documents Required: 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

Non-death penalty cases will be handled as described in FED. R. APP. P. 8. Death penalty cases arising from actions brought under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254 and 2255 will be processed under the procedures found in this rule. The appellant must file 4 copies of the motion for stay and attach, to each, legible copies of the documents listed below. If the appellant asserts there is insufficient time to file a written motion, the appellant must deliver to the clerk 4 legible copies of each of the listed documents as soon as possible. If the appellant cannot attach or deliver any listed document, a statement why it cannot be provided must be substituted. The documents required are: (a) The complaint or petition to the district court; (b) Each brief or memorandum of authorities filed by both parties in the district court; (c) The opinion giving the district court’s reasons for denying relief; (d) The district court judgment denying relief; (e) The application to the district court for a stay; (f) The district court order granting or denying a stay, and the statement of reasons for its action; (g) The certificate of appealability or, if there is none, the order denying a certificate of appealability; (h) A copy of each state or federal court opinion or judgment involving any issue presented to this court or, if the ruling was not made in a written opinion or judgment, a copy of the relevant portions of the transcript. 8.1.1 If the state indicates that it does not oppose the stay, and the applicant states this fact in the application, these documents do not need to be filed with the application but must be filed within 14 days after the application is filed. 8.1.2 If the appellant raises an issue that was not raised before the district court or has not been exhausted in state court, the applicant must give the reasons why prior action was not taken and why a stay should be granted.

Source of truth

Non-death penalty cases will be handled as described in FED. R. APP. P. 8. Death penalty cases arising from actions brought under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254 and 2255 will be processed under the procedures found in this rule. The appellant must file 4 copies of the motion for stay and atta

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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