Filing Your Appeal - Pro Se - The Record on Appeal

The purpose of an appeal is to determine if the district court made an error based on the evidence and the arguments that were presented to that court.  It is therefore vital that the parties present all arguments and all evidence in support of all claims to the district court.  As a general matter, this court will not consider additional evidence nor will this court consider arguments that were not raised in the district court proceedings.

When the appellant is pro se, this court will itself prepare and docket the record on appeal. The pro se appellant need not provide an appendix or copies of district court documents.

If a transcript is necessary to an appeal, it is the responsibility of the appellant to request that the transcript be prepared using a transcript order form.  The appellant is also required to make arrangements to pay for the transcript preparation.  The statute governing the question of whether a transcript might be prepared at government expense is 28 U.S.C. § 753(f).   The district court generally resolves all questions regarding payment for transcript preparation.