The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently issued an order instructing lawyers to verify their citations before filing. The directive was meant to promote accuracy and reduce errors in legal submissions. However, as noted in a roundup of legal news, the order itself cited the wrong rule in the process.
This irony has drawn attention because it undercuts the very message the court intended to convey. If the court cannot get its own citations right, the admonition to lawyers may seem less credible. The mistake also raises practical questions about how courts and attorneys can maintain rigorous standards when even the judiciary slips up.
The incident was flagged by the ABA Journal and reported in Above the Law's Morning Docket. No further details were provided about which rule was mis-cited or how the error was discovered, but the example serves as a reminder that citation checking is a fallible human process—even for those who enforce the rules.