Posted: November 19, 2025
Rules of Appellate Procedure – Comment Period Closes January 5, 2026
URAP049. Petition for writ of certiorari. Amend. The Committee proposes amending Rule 49 to 1) add a word limit and change the page limit from 20 pages to 15 pages; 2) clarify what the statement of the case should include; and 3) clean-up for clarity and consistency.
URAP050. Response; reply. Amend. The Committee proposes amending Rule 50 to 1) add what the contents of the response to a petition for writ of certiorari should include; 2) add a word limit and change the page limit from 20 pages to 15 pages for a response; 3) add a word limit of 1,500 for the reply; 4) clarify what the statement of the case should include; and 5) clean-up for clarity and consistency.
Proposed Rule 49(d) imposes a page or word limit, but no requirement for a certification of compliance with the word limit (similar to Rule 24(a)(11). The rule does contemplate a “word count” but does not say where that word count is to be given.
Compliance would be easier if the rule tracked Rule 24(a)(11). If a certification is added to the rule, the word count should also exclude “certificates of counsel,” as in Rule 24(g)(2).
The same is true of proposed Rule 50(a)(3) and Rule 50(c)(3).