Huffaker v. Ramella

Although I concur in the judgment and most of the majority opinion, I concur separately because local court rules do not confer what we ordinarily understand to be substantive rights. Nevertheless, local rules, although rules of procedure, sometimes do affect due process rights to such an extent that deviation from a rule can affect due process. In this sense, the right is substantive.

In addition, in a multi-judge trial court, the rules are adopted by the court as a whole and bind all the judges. Individual trial judges are not free “to do their own thing” but, instead, are bound by the rules…