FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER
                       DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO
                            P.O. Box 449
                       Albuquerque, NM  87103

                            March 6, 1997

Appellate Court and Circuit Administration Division
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building
One Columbus Circle NE, Suite 4-512
Washington, DC 20544                         

Attention: ABA Citation Resolution

To Judicial Conference's Executive Committee, Committee on Automation 
and Technology:

Dear Committee Members:

     Pursuant to the February 20, 1997 memorandum on whether the 
federal courts should adopt the form of official citation for court 
decisions recommended by the ABA Special Committee on Citation 
Issues, our office offers the following comments. At the present time 
we have 19 trial attorneys and five appellate attorneys who prepare 
and file district court and appellate court briefs.

     There was uniformity among the staff in believing that the 
resources going into determining the best electronic cite were not 
well directed. The lack of uniformity has not caused such great 
problems that the citation system needs to be changed. Under the 
present system, the person with only electronic access can easily 
find cases when given a regular citation to a printed case.  On the 
other hand, a person without electronic access of any kind will never 
benefit from electronic citations, no matter the format.

     The proposed solution calls for double cites to every case.  
This is bound to be extra time consuming for everyone. It also leaves 
less room for actual Argument when one is pressed for space under the 
page limitations. It is assumed that every new case will be required 
to have the paragraphs numbered in the printed version as well as the 
electronic version. If this does not happen, then the failure to 
require a citation to the relevant printed page would cause real 
problems for anyone who researches at all in print.

     Thank you for the opportunity to provide input on this issue.  
Please feel free to call me if you would like further comments or 
explanation.

                                   Sincerely,

                                   Ann Steinmetz,
                                   Federal Public Defender
                                   Albuquerque Office