The Supreme Court’s font requirements are set out in Rule 33: every booklet-format brief or filing must be typeset in a Century family typeface, such as Century Schoolbook, New Century Schoolbook, or Century Expanded, at 12-point type or larger for body text.1Cornell Law Institute. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States – Rule 33 Anything outside the Century family can be rejected by the Clerk’s office.
Which Fonts Qualify
Rule 33 names three acceptable examples by name: Century Expanded, New Century Schoolbook, and Century Schoolbook.1Cornell Law Institute. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States – Rule 33 The rule is a family requirement, not a menu of serifs. Bookman Old Style, Baskerville, and other serif faces that lower federal courts routinely accept do not satisfy Rule 33.
The rule also requires that documents be produced by a typographic typesetting process rather than ordinary typewriter-style output. That production standard, together with the booklet format itself, is why most Supreme Court practitioners send their filings to a specialized printer rather than run them off in-house.
Size, Leading, and Margins
Body text must be at least 12 points, with a minimum of 2 points of leading between lines. Footnotes may be smaller but no less than 10 points, and they too need at least 2-point leading.1Cornell Law Institute. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States – Rule 33 Those spacing minimums exist so filers can’t compress text to squeeze in more content.
Margins must be at least three-fourths of an inch on every side, and no text may disappear into the binding. The booklet page itself measures 6⅛ by 9¼ inches, considerably smaller than letter paper, so the type size and margins consume a real share of each page.1Cornell Law Institute. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States – Rule 33
Word Count Limits
Length is measured in words, not pages. The count includes footnotes but excludes the table of contents, table of cited authorities, questions presented, and listing of counsel.1Cornell Law Institute. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States – Rule 33 The core limits:
- Petition for a writ of certiorari: 9,000 words
- Jurisdictional statement: 9,000 words
- Merits brief for petitioner or appellant: 13,000 words
- Merits brief for respondent or appellee: 13,000 words
A party who needs more space can ask the Court or an individual Justice for permission to exceed the cap, but such requests are disfavored and must reach the Clerk at least 15 days before the filing deadline. Word-processor totals include the excluded front matter, so run the count on the body and footnotes alone before signing the certificate of compliance.
When the Font Rule Doesn’t Apply
The Century family requirement governs booklet-format filings. Parties proceeding without payment of fees (in forma pauperis) and certain other filers may instead submit on standard 8½-by-11-inch white paper, double-spaced, with single spacing allowed only for indented quotations, stapled or bound at the upper left corner.2Supreme Court of the United States. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States
Because that format has no typesetting requirement, the Century restriction does not reach it. Length is measured in pages instead: 40 pages for a cert petition, jurisdictional statement, brief in opposition, or motion to dismiss, and 15 pages for a reply brief, supplemental brief, or rehearing petition, with the same front-matter exclusions.2Supreme Court of the United States. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States
What the Court Uses for Its Own Opinions
The Court publishes its opinions in Century Schoolbook, a serif face designed in the early twentieth century for textbook readability. Its open letterforms and generous character spacing help dense legal text stay legible across long documents, which is the same reasoning behind the family requirement it imposes on outside filers.