Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Pace Law Faculty Publications School of Law 2014 Horton the Elephant Interprets the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: How the Federal Courts Sometimes Do and Always Should Understand Them Donald L. Doernberg Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty Part of the Civil Procedure Commons, and the Conflict of Laws Commons Recommended Citation Donald L. Doernberg, Horton the Elephant Interprets the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: How the Federal Courts Sometimes Do and Always Should Understand Them, 42 Hofstra L. Rev. 799 (2014), http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/959/. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. HORTON THE ELEPHANT INTERPRETS THE FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE: HOW THE FEDERAL COURTS SOMETIMES DO AND ALWAYS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THEM Donald L. Doernberg* I. INTRODUCTION Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Co.1 made it worse, and that was after Dr. Seuss had pointed the way.2 The Rules Enabling Act (“REA”),3 authorizing the Supreme Court to promulgate rules of civil procedure for the federal courts, limited the Court’s power: “Such rules shall not abridge, enlarge or modify any substantive right.”4 The Court has always struggled with that language, from its first encounter in Sibbach v. Wilson & Co.5 to the present.