(A) Official Court Record
The Clerk’s Office will not maintain a paper Court file except as otherwise provided
in these Rules. The official Court record is the electronic file maintained by the
Court, supplemented with any documents or exhibits conventionally filed in
accordance with these Rules.
(1) The Clerk’s Office will retain all original indictments, petitions to enter plea
of guilty, plea agreements, and those documents requiring the signatures of
non-attorneys (such as grand jury foreperson, defendants, third-party
custodians, United States Marshals, officers from Probation, and other
federal officers and agents). When these documents are filed
conventionally, the Clerk’s Office will scan them, upload them to the
System, and retain the original documents in conventional format or sealed
electronic format. Signatures of judiciary and justice department officials
will be redacted by the filing party and replaced with “s/ name.” Signatures
of jurors on verdict forms and of the foreperson on indictments will be
redacted by the Clerk before scanning and uploading. The electronic
document as it is maintained on the Court’s servers constitutes the official
version of that record.
(2) Any party filing any original document conventionally (other than those
listed above) must accompany such filing with a self-addressed, postage-
paid envelope. The Clerk’s Office will scan and upload the document filed
into the System and then return the conventional document to the filing
party in the self-addressed envelope. If a party fails to submit a self-
addressed, postage-paid envelope with the conventionally filed document,
the Clerk’s Office will discard the documents after they are scanned and
uploaded to the System. The electronic document as it is maintained on the
Court’s servers constitutes the official version of the document.
(B) Orders
(1) Judges’ Signatures
The assigned judge or the Clerk’s Office must electronically file all signed
orders. Any order signed electronically has the same force and effect as if
the judge had affixed the judge’s signature to a paper copy of the order and
it had been entered on the docket conventionally.
(2) Proposed Orders
Proposed orders must be filed as attachments to motions. A filing party
moving for issuance of a writ, warrant, or summons should advise the judge
that a prompt ruling is required and submit the writ, warrant, or summons
in .pdf form with the proposed order. The presiding judge may request a
copy of the proposed order be sent in Word or Word Perfect format (i.e.,
not .pdf) to the chambers email address.
(3) Text-Only Orders
The assigned judge may grant routine orders by a text-only entry upon the
docket. When text-only entries are made, no separate .pdf document will
issue; the text-only entry constitutes the Court’s only order on the matter.
The System will generate a “Notice of Electronic Filing.”
