9th Cir. R. 30-1

(New 12/1/2020)

30-1.1. Purpose

The Ninth Circuit requires the parties to file Excerpts of Record instead of the Appendix

prescribed by FRAP 30. The primary purpose of the excerpts is to compile for the Court all parts

of the record, but only those parts of the record, that are relevant and useful to the Court in

deciding the appeal.

For purposes of these rules, the terms “Excerpts” and “Excerpts of Record” refer to any type of

excerpts submitted by any party, including Supplemental Excerpts and Further Excerpts.

Advisory Committee Note to Rule 30-1.1

The Excerpts of Record should be a well-organized and accessible compendium of all the

documents in the record that are necessary to understand and decide the issues on appeal.

Although the Court has access to most of the district court record via PACER, that access is time

consuming, and citations to the record serve as a distraction when reading the briefs. The

parties should not expect the Court to search through the district court record for the documents

that support their arguments on appeal. Therefore, unless a party is exempt from the excerpts-of-

record requirement, citations directly to the record are not permitted except for purely

background information, such as factual or procedural history, that is undisputed and provided

only for general context.

30-1.2. Requirements

(a) The appellant or petitioner shall submit Excerpts of Record when submitting the opening

brief unless the filer is exempt pursuant to Circuit Rule 30-1.3.

(b) The appellee or respondent shall submit Supplemental Excerpts of Record when

submitting the answering brief only if the brief refers to documents or portions of

documents not included in the initial Excerpts, or if no Excerpts of Record were filed

because the appellant or petitioner is exempt pursuant to Circuit Rule 30-1.3.

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(c) A non-exempt appellant or petitioner shall submit Further Excerpts of Record when

submitting the reply brief only if the brief refers to documents or portions of documents

not included in the Excerpts or Supplemental Excerpts.

(d) Any non-exempt party shall submit Supplemental Excerpts of Record when submitting a

supplemental brief only if the brief refers to documents or portions of documents not

included in any previously filed Excerpts.

(e) All excerpts shall be separate from the brief and submitted electronically at the same time

as the brief unless the filing party is exempt from the electronic-filing requirement.

(f) On the same day the excerpts are submitted electronically, the filing party shall serve 1

paper copy of the excerpts on any other party that is not registered for electronic filing,

but shall defer submission of paper copies of the excerpts to the Court until directed by

the Clerk to do so.

(g) If the filing party is exempt from the electronic-filing requirement, the filing party shall

file an original paper copy of the excerpts at the time the brief is submitted, bound

separately from the brief, and serve 1 paper copy on each of the other parties. No

additional paper copies should be submitted unless requested by the Court. (Rev. 12/1/25)

(h) Should the Court consider a case en banc, the Clerk will require counsel to submit

additional paper copies of the excerpts.

(i) In any petition for review challenging an order of removal in an immigration case, neither

party need file Excerpts of Record.

30-1.3. No Excerpts Required for Pro Se Party

A party proceeding without counsel need not file excerpts. If such a party does not file excerpts,

counsel for appellee or respondent must file Supplemental Excerpts of Record that contain all of

the documents that are cited in the pro se opening brief or otherwise required by Rule 30-1.4, as

well as the documents that are cited in the answering brief. If an unrepresented litigant elects to

file excerpts of record or other appendices to a brief, the excerpts must include a caption page

pursuant to Circuit Rule 30-1.5(d) and a table of contents pursuant to Circuit Rule 30-1.5(a).

(Rev. 12/1/24)

30-1.4. Contents of the Excerpts of Record

(a) Volume 1 of the Excerpts of Record shall include all decisions being appealed, reviewed,

or collaterally challenged, whether oral or written, final or interim. Unless the entire set

of excerpts will be submitted in a single volume of no more than 300 pages, Volume 1 of

the Excerpts of Record shall not include any other material. This requirement applies to

Volume 1 of any Supplemental or Further Excerpts of Record that contain such decisions

not included in the initial Excerpts. The documents in the first volume of excerpts

ordinarily shall be arranged by file date in reverse chronological order.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (d), additional volumes of any excerpts shall not include

any decisions referred to in subsection (a), but shall include all other parts, but only those

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parts, of the record that are relevant to deciding the appeal. The documents contained in

these volumes of excerpts ordinarily shall be arranged in reverse chronological order.

(c) If the excerpts contain the complete trial transcript, the filer may elect to submit the

original reporter’s transcript as a separate volume(s) of excerpts of no more than 300

pages each, but such volume(s) must be paginated consecutively in accordance with

subsection 1.5(c). If documentary trial exhibits, such as written materials and

photographs capable of production in PDF format, are relevant to deciding the appeal,

they shall be included in the excerpts of record and placed together, either with any

separate volume(s) of trial transcripts or at the end of the final volume of unsealed

Excerpts of Record (just before the notice of appeal and docket sheet) or, if appropriate,

in the final volume of sealed Excerpts. Submission of physical exhibits that are not

capable of transmission in PDF format is governed by Circuit Rule 27-14.

(d) When any Excerpts of Record include documents: (1) that are required to be sealed

pursuant to statute or rule and submitted under Circuit Rule 27-13(d); or (2) that are

being submitted provisionally under seal pursuant to Circuit Rule 27-13(e) or (f); those

documents shall be submitted in a separate, final volume(s) of the excerpts. The

documents contained in sealed or provisionally sealed volumes ordinarily shall be

arranged in reverse chronological order. Pre-sentence reports and related sealed

sentencing documents shall not be included in the excerpts, but shall instead be filed

using the pre-sentence report filing event. See Circuit Rule 27-13(d).

(e) In social security appeals, the certified administrative record (CAR) shall not be included

in the excerpts of record, but shall be submitted by the appellant in its entirety in a

separate CAR filing event at the time the opening brief and initial excerpts are filed,

unless appellant is exempt from the excerpts requirement, in which case it will be

submitted by the appellee at the time the answering brief is filed.

(f) On appeal from a District Court, Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, Bankruptcy Court, or Tax

Court case, the notice of appeal and lower court docket sheet shall be included at the end

of the last volume in the non-sealed initial Excerpts of Record.

Advisory Committee Note to Rule 30-1.4

Volume 1 of the Excerpts of Record ordinarily should include:

(a) the judgment or interlocutory order appealed from;

(b) any other orders or rulings, including the text of minute orders (copied into a separate

sheet of paper or contained in a separate page from the district court docket sheet),

sought to be reviewed;

(c) where an appeal challenges any ruling, order, finding of fact, or conclusion of law, and

that ruling, order, finding, or conclusion was delivered orally, that specific portion of the

reporter’s transcript recording any discussion by court or counsel on which the

assignment of error is alleged to rest;

(d) the entire sentencing transcript in any criminal appeal challenging the sentence;

(e) any jury instruction given or refused that presents an issue on appeal; and

FRAP 30

(f) any relevant state court decisions in a habeas corpus proceeding.

Circuit Rule 28-2.8 requires every assertion in briefs regarding matters in the record to be

supported by a citation to the Excerpts of Record. Excerpts therefore must include, at a

minimum, all documents cited by the briefs except for undisputed facts or procedural history

offered only for general background.

Legal memoranda and briefs ordinarily are not relevant to the issues on appeal and, therefore,

should be excluded from the excerpts. They may be relevant if a party asserts that an issue was

waived, forfeited, or not exhausted, to support disputed assertions of procedural history, or in

other similar circumstances.

If the briefs cite only certain pages of a long transcript or other document, parties may elect to

include only portions of the transcript or document. But the parties should provide enough

surrounding pages to provide relevant context and, where a brief raises a sufficiency of the

evidence or harmless error argument, the filer ordinarily should include the entire trial

transcript.

If the brief is accompanied by a motion to withdraw pursuant to Anders v. California, the initial

Excerpts of Record shall include the complete transcripts for the plea hearing or trial and the

sentencing hearing. See Circuit Rule 4-1(c)(6).

In criminal cases, the excerpts shall include the final indictment or other charging document.

If the brief raises issues requiring consideration of trial exhibits, whether admitted or excluded,

it is counsel’s responsibility to provide those exhibits to the Court as part of the excerpts (if they

are capable of submission in PDF format) or via separate transmission to the Court pursuant to

Circuit Rule 27-14.

The Court prefers excerpts that are organized in reverse chronological order (subject to the

provisions relating to the contents of first and sealed volumes), beginning with the most recently

filed document or set of documents. For this purpose, transcripts, including trial transcripts,

should be placed by hearing date, except that hearings or trials that span multiple dates or

sessions should appear in chronological order for that hearing or trial, using the first day of the

hearing or trial as the relevant date. Alternative organization of the excerpts is acceptable if

better suited to a particular case.

30-1.5. Index and Format

(a) Except as noted in section (b) below, each set of Excerpts of Record shall be

accompanied by a separately bound Table of Contents (“Index Volume”) of all

documents contained in all numbered volumes of the set, including any separate volumes

of trial transcript pursuant to Circuit Rule 30-1.4(c). The Index Volume shall list each

document in order, including a citation to where the document may be found in the lower

court record, and its location in the volume and page number in the excerpts. When

listing the documents in the Index, parties should provide descriptive labels. For example,

"Exhibit 12 - 2018 Deposition of Jeanne Smith" is more helpful than "Exhibit 12 to

motion for summary judgment." The individual numbered volumes of excerpts shall no

longer include tables of contents.

FRAP 30

(b) No volume may exceed 300 pages, including the caption (cover) page. If an entire set of

excerpts, including Index and caption page, totals 300 pages or less, they may be

submitted together in one single volume.

(c) With the exception of the Index Volume, the pages of each set of excerpts shall be

numbered consecutively across all volumes in the set. All pages of each volume shall be

included in the consecutive numbering, including but not limited to caption pages, pages

used as dividers, blank pages, and certificates of service. The page numbering shall begin

with the caption page of the first volume counted as number 1, and every subsequent

page across all volumes (including any separate transcript volumes) shall be

consecutively numbered. Alternative numbering formats—e.g., using roman numerals or

starting each volume with page 1—may not be used. Although caption pages must be

included in the consecutive numbering, the page number need not be printed on caption

pages. The Index Volume shall be numbered separately when not included in a single

volume pursuant to subsection (b).

(d) Each volume must contain a caption (cover) page styled as described in FRAP 32(a),

except that the wording “Excerpts of Record” (or “Supplemental Excerpts of Record” or

“Further Excerpts of Record”) shall be substituted for “Brief.” The caption page of each

volume, including the index, shall include the volume number (“Volume 2 of 6” or

“Index Volume,” for example).

(e) The paper copies of each volume, including the Index Volume and any separate

reporter’s transcript volumes, shall be bound securely on the left. Paper copies shall be

printed on letter-sized light-colored paper with black ink or colored ink where appropriate

and the caption pages shall be white. Paper copies of any excerpts may be printed on both

sides of the paper, but only if the method of binding allows each volume to lie completely

flat when open, such as comb, spiral, coil, or wire binding, and the weight of the paper is

sufficient to prevent bleeding through when marked on one side in ink or highlighter.

(Rev. 12/1/25)

30-1.6. Citation to the Excerpts of Record

Parties shall cite to the initial Excerpts of Record in the following format: [volume number]-ER-

[page number(s)]. If only one volume exists, the volume number shall be omitted. Multi-volume

examples: 1-ER-12, 4-ER-874–76. Single-volume example: ER-26–32. The same format applies

to Supplemental Excerpts of Record except that “SER” applies rather than “ER.” The same

format applies to Further Excerpts of Record except that “FER” applies rather than “ER.”

Multiple parties on the same side of an appeal who are submitting separate excerpts must include

a unique identifier in the citation, such as 1-JonesER-59. Arabic numerals should be used for

numbers, rather than Roman numerals. Citations to several nonsequential pages should use the

complete citation format, such as “2-ER-51, 2-ER-98.” Citations to the administrative record in

social security cases shall be CAR-[page number]. Citations to the administrative record in

immigration cases shall be to AR-[page number]. Citations to presentence report documents shall

be PSR-[paragraph number and/or page number]. (Rev. 12/1/24)

FRAP 30

30-1.7. Prisoner Appeals Without Counsel

In cases involving appeals by prisoners not represented by counsel, the clerk of the district court

shall, within 21 days from the receipt of the prisoner’s written request, forward to the prisoner

copies of the documents comprising the Excerpts of Record so that the prisoner can prepare the

briefs on appeal. If the prisoner was granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis at the district

court or on appeal, the copies will be produced at no charge to the prisoner.