When must I file a jurisdictional statement on a Supreme Court direct appeal?

Establish when the notice of appeal was actually filed with the clerk of the district court.

The statement appendix must include a copy of the notice showing its district-court filing date. Judgment entry and Supreme Court docketing are not substitutes.

Separately determine whether law authorizes the direct appeal and whether the notice complied with its statutory filing time. This Court-rule review does not establish current statutory jurisdiction.

Check for an actual Justice’s extension order and confirm its operative date and parties. A pending application does not itself extend time.

1. Use the district court’s actual notice-of-appeal filing date. Do not use judgment entry, Supreme Court docketing or notice service.
2. Exclude the established trigger day.
3. Count 60 calendar days.
4. Apply Rule 30.1 final-day adjustment.
5. Complete the required filing by that date.

Supreme Court Rule 30.1 excludes the trigger day and includes every intermediate calendar day. For periods shorter than seven days it excludes intermediate closed days. Each fixed period reviewed here is at least seven days.

Rule 18.3 permits a Justice to grant an extension for good cause, not exceeding sixty days. It supplies a discretionary ceiling, not sixty automatic additional days. The calculator counts only the unextended default.

If the final day is Saturday, Sunday, a federal legal holiday listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103 or a Court-building closure ordered by the Court or Chief Justice, Rule 30.1 continues the period to the next day that is none of those. Check actual Court closure orders. The calculator does not infer additional closures.

Fictitious example

Fictitious district-court notice-of-appeal filing on August 24, 2026. Assume an authorized direct appeal and no extension of the jurisdictional statement time. Exclude the established trigger day, August 24, 2026. Counting 60 calendar days reaches October 23, 2026. The final day is an open weekday.

Fictitious facts and dates. No different schedule, additional Court closure or extension is assumed.

Different required court and trigger

File the notice in district court under Rule 18.1. File the jurisdictional statement in the Supreme Court under Rule 18.3. The two periods govern different acts.

Extension application and actual grant

An application is not favored and must establish jurisdiction, identify the judgment, include the opinion, rehearing order if any and notice of appeal, and explain specific reasons. Read Rules 21, 22 and 30 and the actual disposition.

Copies, fee and pauper procedure

Ordinarily file forty copies and pay the Rule 38 docket fee. Rule 18.3 supplies the separate Rule 39 in-forma-pauperis copies and attached-motion procedure.

Prompt docket notice

After docketing, promptly notify all appellees on the Clerk’s form of filing, docketing and docket number. Serve that notice under Rule 29.

Missed docketing and dismissal

Rule 18.5 describes district-court dismissal and a Supreme Court motion to docket and dismiss. After the stated Supreme Court procedure, appellant cannot file a statement without special leave. Do not use this default calculation to assume leave.

• The calculator counts the encoded default period after an established trigger. It does not determine jurisdiction, party alignment or the effect of a particular order.
• Check the Court’s docket, actual directions and proof of the required act.

• Confirm authorization for the direct appeal and timely district-court notice separately.
• Preserve the notice showing its actual district-court filing date.
• Prepare the Rule 14-form statement and required appendix.
• Check any actual extension and the required copies, fee or pauper motion.
• Serve the statement and promptly send the Clerk-form docket notice to appellees.
• Rule 29.2 distinguishes timely paper receipt, qualifying USPS postmark, commercial-carrier delivery and proper electronic submission. Under the March 2026 rule, electronic timeliness requires the paper copies to be delivered or mailed by a specified method within three days. Rule 29.7 and the current guidelines impose additional electronic-submission requirements for represented filers and identify exceptions. Filing with the Court does not itself transmit the document to other parties.
• Check represented-filer electronic requirements and paper-copy requirements. The March 2026 guidelines exempt specified sealed and privacy-sensitive filings from electronic submission.
• Preserve both filing and separate service evidence.