How Should a Federal Appellate Court Decide Whether an Appeal Should Be Orally Argued?
Howard J. Bashman 09-10-2007 Related: Bashman ArchiveThe crush of an incredibly burdensome caseload has made oral argument a scarce commodity in many federal appellate courts. Throughout most of the country, long gone are the days where federal appellate courts will schedule each and every appeal in which both sides are represented by counsel for oral argument unless the attorneys convince the court that oral argument is unnecessary. Today, only a minority of the federal appellate courts leave it up to the lawyers to decide whether an appeal should be argued. The New York City-based 2nd Circuit recently promulgated a revised rule that requires attorneys to affirmatively request oral argument to receive it. And the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit also remains in the habit of giving oral argument when lawyers request it, regardless of whether the judges assigned to a case anticipate that oral argument will be useful. By contrast, the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit employs what I believe to
