Are the Federal Courthouse Doors Closing? What's Happened to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure?

When the Federal Rules were promulgated-that was in 1938, over 70 years ago-they had a very liberal ethos to them. As a result, the Rules established a relatively plainly worded, non-technical procedural system. Over the past seventy years, we have had the most extraordinary growth in federal substantive law in the history of this country. Examines the contemporaneous movement in our procedural system regarding the operation of the Federal Rules that seeks the earlier and earlier disposition of litigation.