If approved by the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress, the most controversial change ever proposed to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure will become law. Rule 32.1 authorizes citation to non-precedential federal appellate court rulings in briefs filed in all of the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Howard Bashman expounds on why the high court should eliminate the last-minute, prospective-only limitation from Rule 32.1 and return the rule to the form in which the Appellate Rules Advisory Committee approved it.
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