L.A.R. 11.2: Retention of the Record in the District Court

A certified copy of the docket entries in the district court must be transmitted to the clerk of this court in lieu of the entire record in all counseled appeals. In all pro se cases, all documents, including briefs filed in support of dispositive motions that are not available in electronic form on PACER, must be certified and transmitted to the clerk of this court. The clerk of the district court must transmit in any state habeas case or habeas case emanating from any territorial court or motions to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, whether counseled or pro se, all documents that are not available in electronic form on PACER. In such cases, the clerk of the district court must transmit to the court of appeals any state or territorial records or any documents from the prior criminal trial lodged with the district court during its determination of the habeas case.

Changes were made in 2008 to reflect practices for electronic records. The grant of a motion to proceed on the original record exempts a litigant from filing an appendix. Transmission of the record by the district court to the court of appeals is not a prerequisite to the granting of such motion. The fact that the district court clerk has transmitted the record to the court of appeals does not dictate the granting of the motion.