On January 5, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will implement a program that checks Opening, Response and Reply briefs for compliance pursuant to Federal and Local rules.

The program will run in the background once a brief is uploaded in CM/ECF using either the Check PDF Document option via the Utilities menu or when docketing in cases using the Opening, Response and Reply brief events. Users are strongly encouraged to check their briefs using the "Check PDF document" utility before docketing an Opening, Response or Reply brief event. The utility does not "lock" a case or prevent others from filing.

A template including all required sections for principal briefs will be provided, and its use is strongly recommended to avoid non-compliance orders. Please note that documents filed electronically must be in PDF text format - not scanned to PDF (See L.A.R. 113.3(b)). Detected deficiencies will not prevent users from completing an event, but correcting deficiencies before completion is strongly recommended to avoid non-compliance orders.

Deficiencies will be identified as Critical or Minor:
--Critical deficiencies will likely cause the brief to be rejected and require refiling.
--Minor deficiencies are presented for consideration and may not cause the brief to be rejected.

It is possible the program will detect deficiencies when none exist (e.g. additional text or characters in section headers, graphics, etc.). Please help us improve the program by emailing feedback to the CM/ECF Help Desk at ecf_helpdesk@ca3.uscourts.gov