How promptly must I respond to a Supreme Court motion?

Preserve when the responding party actually received the motion. Filing with the Court alone does not establish that receipt.

Read the relief sought and any asserted need for emergency action immediately.

Check for an actual Court or Justice direction, or a Clerk direction within Rule 30.4 authority.

Identify the motion’s form and whether time permits a corresponding response. Do not assume the Court will wait ten days.

1. Record actual motion receipt.
2. Review the asserted urgency and relief.
3. Read any operative response direction.
4. Treat ten days as the default outer limit, not a waiting allowance.
5. File promptly and preserve separate service evidence.

Rule 30.1 governs computation of the default ten-day outer period from established receipt. That arithmetic does not determine the separate promptly-as-possible requirement or an actual replacement direction.

Rule 21.4 permits the Court or a Justice, or the Clerk under Rule 30.4, to order otherwise. A pending extension request does not change the operative schedule. In an appropriate case the Court may act without a response.

The default forward outer period uses Rule 30.1 final closed-day treatment. A final-day adjustment is not permission to delay a response that the nature of the relief or emergency requires sooner.

The rule’s open-ended promptness duty cannot be derived from a single date. A numerical outer-limit example would not establish that the particular response is timely.

Emergency and promptness

Consider the nature of the relief and any asserted emergency. The ten-day outer period does not remove the separate promptness duty.

Different direction

The Court or a Justice, or the Clerk under Rule 30.4, may order otherwise. Preserve the actual direction rather than inferring one from a request.

Response form

A response to a Rule 33.1 motion, except a response to a motion for leave to file an amicus brief, uses the same form if time permits. Check the actual motion and applicable submission requirements.

Court action before response

In an appropriate case the Court may act on the motion without waiting for a response. An unexpired outer period does not promise an opportunity to be heard first.

• This source guide does not infer triggering facts, an extension or the effect of a particular direction.
• It provides no computed date or paid calculation record.

• Preserve actual receipt of the incoming motion.
• Review the relief and asserted emergency immediately.
• Read any actual response direction and its authorized source.
• Check response form and whether time permits it.
• File promptly and preserve separate Rule 29 service evidence.
• File the response under the applicable Court submission requirements and separately serve it under Rule 29. Incoming motion receipt is the period’s trigger. It is distinct from the response’s dispatch, filing and service.