November 5, 1998

Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals
Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building
One Columbus Circle, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20544

RE: Comments to Tentative Draft Report, October 1998

Dear Justice White and Members of the Commission,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the tentative draft Report. I am a professor of law and the Director of the Georgetown University Appellate Litigation Program, a clinical program that litigates regularly in federal courts of appeals and other appellate courts. I have been litigating appeals in federal and state courts for over twenty-five years.

I will be focusing my comments upon the following issues which are relevant to my research interests and my appellate practice:

1. The legitimacy of flexible review processes in a modern court of appeals;

2. The two-judge panel proposal;

3. The DCAP proposal;

4. Opinion publication practices.

My comments on the first issue are more detailed because the Commission has not made specific conclusions in this area, pending the completion of its evaluation of case management practices and procedures used in the courts of appeals.

Sincerely,

_____________________
Steven H. Goldblatt