# Why do some official documents use only a small middle portion of the page? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2018, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156 "2018-07-02T13:57:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/1 "2018-07-02T13:57:10Z")
In another thread, someone linked to this [SCOTUS opinion](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf) (PDF). You will notice that it only uses about 60% of the page and has enormous left and right margins. I find reading these incredibly irritating. Its even worse if you have to print it. I have seen this before with certain official documents. Is there a reason for this? If it was for printing and binding, I would think there would be a large margin on alternating left and right sides, but that is not the case. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/2 "2018-07-02T15:54:36Z")
It looks like those are galleys. They would be designed to fit onto much smaller page but are printed on 8 1/2 by 11 paper. So they’re designing for a half-size page that will be the official bound record, but print it on standard size because that paper is more common. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/3 "2018-07-02T19:53:24Z")
Some people in the typesetting business have a really big thing about the “proper” maximum amount of text on a page. And it’s surprisingly small. To them, ideally the paper size would match such a small amount of text. But of course hardly anyone has such small paper sizes lying around so good old letter size is used and ginormous white space ensues. I remember back in the early days of TeX/LaTeX where the default page layout had ridiculous margins. So you had to go into the default styles and fix things. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/4 "2018-07-02T20:53:47Z")
Under [Supreme Court Rule 33](https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/supct/rule_33) provides that, unless an exception applies, all documents submitted shall be in “booklet format,” under requirements that include: > [@](#): > > Every booklet-format document shall be produced on paper that is opaque, unglazed, 6 1/8 by 9 1/4 inches in size, and not less than 60 pounds in weight, and shall have margins of at least three fourths of an inch on all sides. The text field, including footnotes, should be approximately 4 1/8 by 7 1/8 inches. When the Supreme Court issues its original decisions at the Court, it provides them in a printed booklet in “booklet format.” When it posts those on its website, the PDF it uses is a copy of the “booklet format” text on 8-1/2 x 11 inch virtual paper. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/5 "2018-07-02T21:11:58Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Some people in the typesetting business have a really big thing about the “proper” maximum amount of text on a page. And it’s surprisingly small. The number of characters per line that is comfortable to read is indeed small, but it’s backed up with empirical reading studies. This is why broadsheet newspapers set their articles in narrow columns rather than having the paragraphs span the full width of the page. > [@](#): > > I remember back in the early days of TeX/LaTeX where the default page layout had ridiculous margins. So you had to go into the default styles and fix things. The LaTeX defaults haven’t changed since the early days. The “proper” solution (as you surmised) is to print on smaller paper, or to cut the paper after printing. A more practical one is to stick with the default US letter or A4 paper but set your text in two columns. The boneheaded option (that is, the one that makes your text the hardest to read) is to reduce the margins. I’m with **RealityChuck** in thinking that the Supreme Court opinions are meant to be printed on (or cropped to) a smaller paper size, but are distributed online in US letter format because that’s what most people have at hand. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/6 "2018-07-02T21:33:24Z")
I think the booklet answer is probably the correct one, but Zi also wonder if it could be to protectbthe text from handling damage? It’s no big deal normally if fingers smudge a character or two, but in a legal document or legislative document, that could lead to a critical misreading. Wider margins would make it less likely that handling the page would smear the text. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/7 "2018-07-02T21:34:46Z")
Since you guys seem to have answered the question, I will state my opinion as someone who works with digital documents that I would prefer they just publish the digital form in the proper size, and let me decide how I would print them–if I even bother doing so. With the prescribed margins, I would much prefer to let my software print the text two pages per actual page. This would easily fit in landscape, just with the margins reduced. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/8 "2018-07-03T13:48:03Z")
So this “booklet” format. Does paper actually exist for this? Are these booklets actually printed? Is there a way I can make this work on a regular piece of paper so “regular” people can read it easily? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/9 "2018-07-03T14:14:12Z")
Hermitian, I think we’re dealing with a case of standards made before the web, and no one wants to change the “official” settings to suit the new medium. As for how to make it work on a regular piece of paper, there’s no simple way to do it. If you had Acrobat Pro, you could use the Edit PDF feature, select all the text boxes on a page, and manually enlarge them, then do the same for the remaining 102 pages. Pro doesn’t have a script feature to automate the process. At least the document was OCR scanned, so you could copy the text and paste and format in a new document, but it won’t be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/10 "2018-07-07T01:56:17Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > So this “booklet” format. Does paper actually exist for this? Are these booklets actually printed? > > Is there a way I can make this work on a regular piece of paper so “regular” people can read it easily? Yes, the booklets are actually printed. Twice in my career I’ve submitted Petitions for Certiorari to the US Supreme Court (both denied), and each time we had an appellate printer (a service company specializing in producing appeal documents) produce and submit them in the 6 1/8 by 9 1/4 inch “booklet” format. I haven’t seen booklet copy of an original Supreme Court decision, but I understand that they are distributed at the Court on the day the decision is issued. When you think about, though you are somewhat limited in the output from your office laser printer, you can find a printing company to produce a booklet in just about any form you want. And, the 6 1/8 by 9 1/4 inch format is not that unusual in academic and technical publications. In any major legal market, there will be several companies competing to print them for you. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/11 "2018-07-07T03:03:13Z")
Aren’t the booklet formats what they used to call the “slip opinions”, that were printed right in the Court building and distributed the day of the decision? They used to have their own hot lead printing press in the building, to preserve confidentiality before the release of a decision All been replaced by laser printers by now, no doubt. But still keeping to the same formats, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/12 "2018-07-07T07:40:34Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > As for how to make it work on a regular piece of paper, there’s no simple way to do it. I think there are simple ways. Applications written with the GTK+ toolkit (such as the free [Evince](https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evince/Downloads) PDF viewer) have a pretty powerful yet very intuitive print dialog that lets you very easily scale and rotate pages and/or print them n-up. You could scale the documents up so that each one fits the margins of a regular paper size (albeit with a huge font), or scale them up and then print them 2-up in landscape mode. With the latter option I think there may even be a “booklet mode” that will order the pages such that, when printed on a duplex printer, the document will form a book when folded down the middle. (All this can also be done with free command-line tools such as Ghostscript and pdftk/pdfjam, which is less user-friendly but useful if you need to automate printing of a large number of documents.) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/13 "2018-07-07T13:53:16Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Aren’t the booklet formats what they used to call the “slip opinions”, that were printed right in the Court building and distributed the day of the decision? > > They used to have their own hot lead printing press in the building, to preserve confidentiality before the release of a decision > > All been replaced by laser printers by now, no doubt. But still keeping to the same formats, perhaps? Just to confirm what others have said—all Supreme Court documents are published as real booklets and all petitions and briefs submitted to the Supreme Court are also in actual booklet form, so the electronic versions are just the booklets on standard sized paper, just like if you had photocopied them on regular copier paper. The people who deal with Supreme Court documents don’t want them reformatted for PDF. They want them to look exactly as they do in the actual booklet, even if that means leaving a lot of unused space on a page. To a large extent that’s because they cite to them by page number. That being said, there are a lot of legal information services that will reformat the documents to fit their own screen size or page size and then use inserted markings to indicate the “real” page numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-official-documents-use-only-a-small-middle-portion-of-the-page/817156/14 "2018-07-07T14:00:13Z")
Although the Supreme format does have excessive margins, I have been annoyed for a long time with people who are unfamiliar with common office reproduction practices. They tend to write or print right up to the edges, and if a page is reproduced, may cause some data to not copy. Either the reproducer doesn’t go exactly to the edge, or the paper is skewed, or sometimes enlarged. A healthy margin avoids these problems.