What is the deadline for answer to an application to enforce an agency order?

The period runs from the filing of the application for enforcement.

Count forward from the trigger event. Confirm the event on the docket or in the service record before entering a date.

"Within 21 days after the application for enforcement is filed, the respondent must serve on the applicant an answer to the application and file it with the clerk. If the respondent fails to answer in time, the court will enter judgment for the relief requested."

Fed. R. App. P. 15(b)(2)

1. Exclude the day of the trigger event.
2. Count every following day, including intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.
3. If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, continue to the next day that is not one of those.

Exclude the trigger day and count calendar days under FRAP 26(a).

If the final day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, FRAP 26(a) carries it to the next open day.

FRAP 26(a) also treats a day on which the clerk’s office is inaccessible as excluded from the last day, and sets the electronic filing cutoff at midnight in the time zone of the circuit clerk’s principal office. Circuit local rules and briefing orders often control; the national calculation does not read them.

Fictitious example

Assume the filing of the application for enforcement on Tuesday, September 1, 2026 (filing of the application for enforcement on this date, with no order, motion or extension affecting the period), with no order, motion, extension or local closure affecting the result. Exclude the trigger day and count calendar days under FRAP 26(a). The example assumes no local rule, order or closure changes the default period.

Extensions

Extendable for good cause under FRAP 26(b); the bar in FRAP 26(b)(2) applies to petitions for review, not to this answer.

Orders and local rules

A scheduling order, stipulation approved by the court, standing order or local rule can set a different period and controls over the national default.

• Extendable for good cause under FRAP 26(b); the bar in FRAP 26(b)(2) applies to petitions for review, not to this answer.
• A stipulation, scheduling order, standing order or local rule can set a different period and controls over the national default.

These checks help you review the result. They do not activate a calendar date or certify that the deadline applies.

• Correct trigger date from the district docket or the court of appeals docket
• The circuit’s briefing schedule, local rule or order, which commonly displaces the national default
• Applicable legal holidays and any closure notice for the circuit clerk’s office
• Time zone of the circuit clerk’s principal office and the electronic filing cutoff
• Current rules and any order entered in the appeal

Find answers about when this 21-day period starts, how it is counted, what can change it and how to keep your calculation.

The period and the counting method come from different provisions. The official source is the court’s published rules; the reading links open the rule text at the Legal Information Institute.

Rule record reviewed September 17, 2026. Guide sources checked September 1, 2026. Next source check November 15, 2026.

Published by Deadline Engine. This tool calculates the ordinary period under the cited rule. It does not decide whether the rule applies, obtain an extension or file anything for you.