Idaho Appellate Rule 32: Brief Formatting Requirements Explained

Every brief filed with the Idaho Supreme Court or Idaho Court of Appeals must comply with Idaho Appellate Rule 32 (I.A.R. 32). The clerk's office can reject non-conforming briefs, and even when a brief is accepted, sloppy formatting signals sloppy argument. Here is what the rule actually requires, section by section.

Typeface, spacing, and margins

Idaho briefs follow a conservative, highly readable format:

• Typeface: a legible serif font — Times New Roman, 12 point, is the accepted standard.
• Line spacing: body text at 1.5 or double spacing (block quotations and footnotes may be single-spaced).
• Margins: one inch on all four sides.
• Page numbers: bottom-center of every page.
• Paper size: 8.5″ × 11″, text on one side only for paper filings.

The required sections — in order

A complete Idaho appellate brief contains, in this order:

1. Cover page — court name, full party caption with a vertical divider, Supreme Court docket number, brief title, the court appealed from with the presiding district judge, and counsel blocks for both sides.
2. Table of Contents — every heading and subheading with page numbers.
3. Table of Authorities — cases, statutes, rules, and constitutional provisions with the pages where each is cited.
4. Statement of the Case — nature of the case, course of proceedings, and disposition below.
5. Issues Presented on Appeal.
6. Argument — including the applicable standard of review for each issue.
7. Conclusion — the precise relief requested.
8. Certificate of Compliance — certifying the word count (placed immediately before the signature under the current rules).
9. Signature block — attorney name, ISB number, firm, and contact information.
10. Certificate of Service — who was served, how (U.S. Mail, hand delivery, or iCourt File & Serve), and when.

The cover page trips up more filers than anything else

Real Idaho Supreme Court cover pages use a distinctive two-column caption: the parties on the left (appellant on top, "vs.", respondent below), separated by a vertical rule from the docket number on the right. Below a horizontal rule sits the centered brief title, the "appeal from" recital naming the judicial district and county, and the presiding judge. Attorney contact blocks for both sides appear at the bottom, with the role label (Attorneys for Appellant / Respondent) underneath each block — not above it. Getting this layout right by hand in Word takes a surprising amount of table-wrangling.

Common Rule 32 mistakes

• Table of Contents page numbers that no longer match after last-minute edits.
• Missing or stale Certificate of Compliance word counts.
• Authorities cited in the argument but missing from the Table of Authorities (or vice versa).
• Page numbers placed top-right instead of bottom-center.
• Cover captions that don't match the caption used in the district court.

The fast way to comply

Idaho Brief Formatter applies all of the above automatically: upload a rough draft and it returns a court-ready DOCX and PDF with the correct cover layout, auto-generated Table of Contents and Table of Authorities, live word-count Certificate of Compliance, and Certificate of Service — modeled on real briefs filed with the Idaho Supreme Court.