Rule 87.Civil Rules Emergency

Last verified June 30, 2026

In one sentenceRule 87, added in 2023, lets the Judicial Conference declare a civil rules emergency when extraordinary circumstances substantially impair the courts, authorizing temporary emergency measures — such as changing time limits that the rules otherwise make unchangeable — during the declared period.

Full Text of Rule 87

Text sizeJump to: (a) (b) (c)

(a) Conditions for an Emergency. The Judicial Conference of the United States may declare a Civil Rules emergency if it determines that extraordinary circumstances relating to public health or safety, or affecting physical or electronic access to a court, substantially impair the court's ability to perform its functions in compliance with these rules.

(b) Declaring an Emergency.

(1) Content. The declaration:

(A) must designate the court or courts affected;

(B) adopts all the emergency rules in Rule 87(c) unless it excepts one or more of them; and

(2) Early Termination. The Judicial Conference may terminate a declaration for one or more courts before the termination date.

(3) Additional Declarations. The Judicial Conference may issue additional declarations under this rule.

(1) Emergency Rules 4(e), (h)(1), (i), and (j)(2), and for Serving a Minor or Incompetent Person. The court may by order authorize service on a defendant described in Rule 4(e), (h)(1), (i), or (j)(2)—or on a minor or incompetent person in a judicial district of the United States—by a method that is reasonably calculated to give notice. A method of service may be completed under the order after the declaration ends unless the court, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, modifies or rescinds the order.

(2) Emergency Rule 6(b)(2).

(A) Extension of Time to File Certain Motions. A court may, by order, apply Rule 6(b)(1)(A) to extend for a period of no more than 30 days after entry of the order the time to act under Rules 50(b) and (d), 52(b), 59(b), (d), and (e), and 60(b).

(B) Effect on Time to Appeal. Unless the time to appeal would otherwise be longer:

(i) if the court denies an extension, the time to file an appeal runs for all parties from the date the order denying the motion to extend is entered;

(ii) if the court grants an extension, a motion authorized by the court and filed within the extended period is, for purposes of Appellate Rule 4(a)(4)(A), filed “within the time allowed by” the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; and

(iii) if the court grants an extension and no motion authorized by the court is made within the extended period, the time to file an appeal runs for all parties from the expiration of the extended period.

(C) Declaration Ends. An act authorized by an order under this emergency rule may be completed under the order after the emergency declaration ends.

End

Amendment History

(Added April 24, 2023, effective December 1, 2023.)

Plain-English Summary

Rule 87 is the newest Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, added effective December 1, 2023, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of court operations. It gives the system a pre-set emergency framework instead of improvising one in a crisis. The Judicial Conference of the United States may declare a civil rules emergency when it determines that extraordinary circumstances substantially impair the courts’ ability to function under the normal rules.

During a declared emergency, affected courts may adopt the emergency measures the rule lists — most importantly, the power to alter deadlines that the rules ordinarily forbid extending, and to use alternative means of conducting proceedings. The rule sets how long a declaration lasts and how it ends, and it preserves any other authority a court has to act in an emergency. Rule 87 makes the rulebook resilient when normal operations break down.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Rule 87?

The Civil Rules Emergency rule, added in 2023, which lets the Judicial Conference declare an emergency and authorize temporary measures when extraordinary circumstances substantially impair the courts.

What can courts do during a declared civil rules emergency?

Adopt the emergency measures Rule 87 lists — for example, changing time limits the rules otherwise make unchangeable and using alternative means of conducting proceedings — for the duration of the declaration.

Source & verification. The rule text and amendment history are reproduced verbatim from the official Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Fed. R. Civ. P. 87), a public-domain work of the U.S. Government. Prescribed by the United States Supreme Court under the Rules Enabling Act. The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified June 30, 2026. · Official source

Also known as: FRCP 87Fed. R. Civ. P. 87civil rules emergencyemergency rulerules emergency declaration