Letter Motions Needed in SDFL

By Rumpole

All things federal being the milieu of DOM, we sent this post for him to use.

The SDNY appears to be the only jurisdiction that endorses the use of “letter motions” as a way of attorneys communicating with the court on less serious issues. In the SDNY, each judge lists their practice differently on their website. Some judges want letter motions emailed to chambers, while others direct attorneys to file them in CMECF. In the SDNY cmecf interface, there is an option for a “letter motion” to be filed.

A letter motion is, a motion in letter format to the District Court Judge. For example:

Dear Judge XYZ,

          I write to request that the court allow my client to travel to Pyongyang, North Korea, to attend the opening of the Dear Leader’s Party Conference. My client will be traveling from July 1 to July 21. The government has deferred to the pre-trial services officer, who has indicated that as long as the client does not assist in the launching of ballistic missiles, she does not object.

          Your, obt Svt. H. Rumpole, Esq.

The letter motion is a simpler, and superior way of communicating with the court, bypassing the “Comes Now The defendant” standard motion, the use of the preamble of which Mr. Markus and Rumpole have previously debated.

Why doesn’t the SDFL use letter motions? Have our judges  ever considered the use of letter motions? Has anyone recently asked Chief Judge Altonaga to consider implementing letter motions?  Is there a downside?

A quick perusal of SDNY judge websites yields that the practice is mostly uniform, with judges listing certain motions that can be used in letter format, and others that must be filed in the regular format.

While the SDNY appears, based on a quick internet search, to be the only district that uses letter motions, the practice is efficient and should be adopted by other jurisdictions.

HR

 Response by DOM -- I've never liked the SDNY practice of letter motions.  What is the upside of a letter motion?  You don't need "Comes Now" in a regular old motion either.  Peace and love.