Federal Evidence Rulemaking On AI Hits Pause: An EDVA Update

In our March post, we observed that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (“EDVA”) has not adopted any district-wide or judge-specific standing orders governing the use of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) in court filings. Recent remarks by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema at the Federal Bar Association Northern Virginia Chapter’s Annual Luncheon and State of the Court Address on June 8, 2026, confirm that this case-specific approach will continue: the Alexandria Division does not plan to issue AI-specific standing orders, although lawyers who “ghost cite” cases should expect sanctions.¹ That approach is consistent with the national rulemaking process, in which the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules (“Advisory Committee”) declined to advance rules governing AI-generated evidence.²