★ The Fonts of the U.S. Federal Courts

The 13 circuits of the U.S. federal courts of appeals operate with a fair amount of independence, including their typographic choices . I was reminded of this today while reading the aforelinked decision from the Ninth Circuit in Epic v. Apple , because the Ninth Circuit sets their decisions in Times New Roman — a font that came up back in December in the context of the Trump State Department. Long argument short, Times New Roman isn’t bad, but it isn’t good. It is the median choice. But most of the circuit courts use it : the Third, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh. It could be worse: the First circuit not only uses Courier New ( the worst version of Courier , so of course it’s the one Microsoft shipped with Windows), but fully justifies their text — contrary to the nature of a monospaced font. (The Fourth circuit only recently switched from Courier New to Times New Roman — an upgrade, to be sure, but a disappointingly mediocre one.) It could be better: the Second and Seventh use Palatino. (Note how much better that Seventh Circuit decision looks than the Second’s, with its wider margins creating a narrower column of text.) But it can be much better. The Fifth Circuit was long typographically superior to its peers, using Century Schoolbook — a highly legible font with great tradition and the right vibe. But in 2020, the Fifth Circuit upgraded, switching to Equity , Matthew Butterick’s excellent type family (which, of course, is used throughout Butterick’s own web book, Typography for Lawyers ). Here’s a before and after tweet noting the change.