Idaho Appellate Rules

All briefs shall be prepared in accordance with the following requirements: 

(a)  Cover of Brief. The cover of all briefs shall state the title of the Supreme Court, the title of the action designated on the certificate of appeal, whether it is appellant's or respondent's brief, the name of the district court or administrative agency appealed from, the name of the trial judge or chairman presiding at the trial or hearing, and the names and addresses of all counsel of record showing for whom they appear. The information on the cover shall be substantially in the following form: 

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(b)  Formatting of Briefs. Except as otherwise provided in this rule, all briefs must comply with the following requirements:

(1) Size, line spacing, and margins. Briefs must be prepared so that, if printed, all pages are a uniform size of 8 1/2 x 11 inches. Lines of text must be double spaced, except that headings, footnotes, and block quotations may be single spaced. Margins must be at least one inch on all sides. Page numbers are required and must appear in the bottom margin.

(2) Typeface. Briefs must be prepared using proportionally spaced type. The font style must be Times New Roman or Century Schoolbook. The font color must be black. Italics or boldface may be used for emphasis. Case names must be italicized or underlined.

(3) Type size. The type size must be 14-point or larger for both text and footnotes.

(c) Briefs Filed by Unrepresented Parties. Except as provided in subsection (d) of this rule, an unrepresented party without access to a word-processing system must file a typewritten brief. The brief must be printed on 8 1/2 x 11-inch unruled and untreated white paper and must be typed with black ribbon. The brief may be typed using a standard 12-point typeface, but it must otherwise comply with the requirements contained in subsections (a) and (b) of this rule.

(d) Handwritten Briefs. Prisoners incarcerated or detained in a state prison or county jail may file briefs that are legibly hand-printed in black ink that otherwise comply with the requirements contained in subsections (a) and (b) of this rule.

(Adopted March 25, 1977, effective July 1, 1977; amended March 28, 1986, effective July 1, 1986; amended March 23, 1990, effective July 1, 1990; amended March 26, 1992, effective July 1, 1992; amended February 10, 1993, effective July 1, 1993; amended August 31, 1994, effective September 1, 1994; amended March 18, 1998, effective July 1, 1998; amended March 1, 2000, effective July 1, 2000; amended January 30, 2002, effective July 1, 2001' amended and effective January 24, 2019; amended April 29, 2026, effective July 1, 2026.)