Written and Unwritten : The Rules, Internal Procedures, and Customs of the United States Courts of Appeals

The United States Federal Courts of Appeals decide cases concerning the most important issues of our time. This book is an unprecedented look into the internal operations of the courts, detailing the norms and unwritten customs of their day to day operations.

Although the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals are the final word on 99 percent of all federal cases, there is no detailed account of how these courts operate. How do judges decide which decisions are binding precedents and which are not? Who decides whether appeals are argued orally? What administrative structures do these Courts have? The answers to these and hundreds of other questions are largely unknown, not only to lawyers and legal academics, but by many within the judiciary itself. Written and Unwritten is the first book to provide an inside look at how these courts operate. An unprecedented contribution to the field of judicial administration, the book collects the differing local rules and internal procedures of each Court of Appeals. In-depth interviews of the Chief Judges of all thirteen circuits and surveys of all Clerks of Court reveal previously undisclosed practices and customs.