On September 9, 2019, the Supreme Court of Georgia amended its Court Rules. Effective immediately the Court has reserved Rule 4 (i) and added new Rule 96 to provide that under certain conditions law students may participate in oral argument.
The other amendments have a later effective date of Monday, December 2, 2019, the first day on which cases will be docketed to the December 2019 Term. Amended Rule 10 addresses the time of filing the principal, response, and reply briefs in direct and cross-appeals; amended Rule 20 adds page limitations to reply briefs; amended Rule 23 shortens the period for filing amicus briefs, only allows later filed amicus briefs by motion, not by right, and specifies that the Court may prohibit or strike the filing of an amicus brief when filing the brief might cause a Justice’s disqualification; amended Rule 24 permits filing supplemental briefs only with leave of the Court. Rules 50 and 51 will be modified to provide that oral argument requests must include details about why argument is necessary and to discourage divided argument, although argument will still be granted in every case in which a request complies with the applicable Rules.
The amended rules are available on the Supreme Court of Georgia website. Click here to view the Order and Amended Rules.Â