5th Cir. R. 8.4 — Emergency Motions: 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.
Emergency motions or applications, whether addressed to the court or to an individual judge, must be filed with the clerk rather than with an individual judge. If there is insufficient time to file a motion or application in person, by mail, or by fax, counsel may communicate with the clerk by telephone and thereafter must file the motion in writing with the clerk as soon as possible. The motion, application, or oral communication must contain a brief account of the prior actions of this or any other court or judge to which the motion or application, or a substantially similar or related petition for relief, was submitted.
Emergency motions or applications, whether addressed to the court or to an individual judge, must be filed with the clerk rather than with an individual judge. If there is insufficient time to file a motion or application in person, by mail, or by fax, counsel may communicate wit