There is no single answer to what font government documents use. Federal websites rely on three open-source typefaces curated by the U.S. Web Design System: Public Sans, Source Sans Pro, and Merriweather. Printed agency documents have long defaulted to Times New Roman or Calibri, with the State Department ordering a return to Times New Roman at 14-point in late 2025. Courts impose their own rules, and the Supreme Court accepts only the Century family for printed briefs. Which font applies depends entirely on where the document lives.
Fonts on Federal Government Websites
The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) sets the typographic standard for federal websites. It’s a design framework agencies use to build consistent, accessible digital experiences, and it recommends three typefaces.
- Public Sans is an open-source sans-serif designed and maintained by USWDS itself. It has a tall x-height that keeps it readable at small sizes and a neutral appearance suited to both body text and headings.
- Source Sans Pro is another open-source sans-serif, created by Paul D. Hunt for legibility in user interface design. Its range of weights works for clear headers and body text.
- Merriweather is an open-source serif designed for on-screen reading. It’s the common choice for text-heavy pages because its letterforms stay compact horizontally while remaining readable across screen sizes.
USWDS notes that serif typefaces generally work better for long blocks of text, while sans-serifs tend to suit user interfaces, though neither rule is absolute.1U.S. Web Design System (USWDS). Typography All three are free, so agencies avoid licensing costs and the public can download them.
Fonts in Printed Agency Documents
Away from screens, federal typography gets less standardized. The Government Publishing Office, which produces the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, and thousands of other official publications, uses Helvetica and Minion Pro for its own Style Manual. Times New Roman has historically dominated agency correspondence, and it returned to the spotlight in late 2025 when Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed all State Department personnel to switch from Calibri back to Times New Roman at 14-point for every official document, from internal memos to externally shared papers. The directive framed the change as reinforcing a “unified, professional voice.”
Agency font choices also follow software defaults. Microsoft made Calibri the default in Word in 2007, and offices across government adopted it simply because it was what the program opened with. When Microsoft replaced Calibri with Aptos in late 2023, agency habits started shifting again.
Fonts Required in Court Filings
Courts care deeply about fonts, and getting yours wrong can derail a filing. The requirements vary by court level and are surprisingly specific.
U.S. Supreme Court
Rule 33 requires documents in booklet format to use a typeface from the Century family, such as Century Expanded, New Century Schoolbook, or Century Schoolbook, in 12-point type with at least 2 points of leading between lines. Footnotes must be at least 10-point.2Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute (LII). Rule 33 – Document Preparation: Booklet Format; 8 1/2- by 11-Inch Paper Format Century is a traditional American serif with wide letterforms, and it’s essentially the only typeface family the Supreme Court will accept for printed briefs.
Federal Appellate Courts
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32 takes a different approach. Rather than naming a font family, it requires that proportionally spaced typefaces include serifs and be at least 14-point. Sans-serif is permitted only in headings and captions. Monospaced fonts may not exceed 10.5 characters per inch. Briefs must use a plain roman style, with italics or bold reserved for emphasis.3Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute (LII). Rule 32 – Form of Briefs, Appendices, and Other Papers In practice, most appellate lawyers use Century Schoolbook, Garamond, or similar traditional serifs at 14-point.
Federal District Courts
District courts set their own local rules, and the variation is significant. Some publish a short list of approved typefaces. The Middle District of Florida, for instance, accepts Book Antiqua, Calisto MT, Century Schoolbook, Georgia, and Palatino at a minimum of 13-point for body text, with Times New Roman allowed only at 14-point or larger. Other districts simply require a “readable” serif font at 12-point. If you’re filing in any federal court, check the local rules before formatting.
Fonts for Patent and SEC Filings
Regulatory agencies that accept public filings set their own font standards, and they tend to be strict because automated processing systems need consistency.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office requires patent applications to use a nonscript font such as Arial, Times Roman, or Courier, with 12-point preferred. Capital letters must be at least 0.125 inches high, and the text cannot be written entirely in capitals. Specifications must be 1.5 or double-spaced in a single column.4USPTO. 608 – Disclosure “Nonscript” essentially means no cursive or handwriting-style typefaces.
SEC electronic filings through EDGAR have even narrower constraints. Plain-text ASCII submissions must use Courier or Courier New at size 12, with lines capped at 80 characters. The system doesn’t recognize bold, italics, underlining, or special characters like smart quotes and em dashes, since those fall outside standard ASCII.5SEC.gov. Preparing an EDGAR Filing in Plain Text That’s why SEC filings often look like they were typed on a 1990s terminal.
Why Government Fonts Look the Way They Do
Much of government typography traces back to accessibility requirements rather than aesthetic preference. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities, giving disabled employees and the public access comparable to what others receive.6Section508.gov. IT Accessibility Laws and Policies A common misconception is that Section 508 mandates specific fonts or minimum sizes. It does not. Neither Section 508 nor WCAG specifies typefaces or a minimum font size for most contexts.7Section508.gov. Understanding Accessible Fonts and Typography for Section 508 Compliance What Section 508 does require is that content be perceivable and operable, which pushes agencies toward clean, high-contrast typefaces in practice without naming them.
One narrow exception: ADA standard 707.7.2 requires characters on certain built-in display screens (like kiosks or ATMs) to use a sans-serif font at least 3/16 of an inch tall, roughly 16-point for most typefaces.7Section508.gov. Understanding Accessible Fonts and Typography for Section 508 Compliance That applies to physical hardware displays, not websites or printed documents.
For state and local governments, the picture is changing. In April 2024, the Department of Justice published a final rule adopting WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the standard that state and local governments must meet for web content and mobile apps under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.8Federal Register. Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities Entities serving populations of 50,000 or more must comply by April 2026, and smaller entities by April 2027. WCAG doesn’t name fonts, but it requires normal text to maintain a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 against its background, with large text (generally 18-point or 14-point bold) needing at least 3 to 1.9W3C. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 That constrains typography without specifying it. The practical result across state and local governments is a slow convergence on the same accessibility-first principles that already guide federal web design, though common workhorses like Arial, Verdana, Open Sans, Times New Roman, and Calibri still show up often in state and local documents.
What Happens When You Use the Wrong Font
The consequences of noncompliant typography depend on where you’re filing. Federal courts have rejected, stricken, or returned documents for formatting violations, including font issues. In some cases, courts simply warn counsel to fix the problem next time. In others, filings have been stricken without prejudice, forcing the filer to reformat and refile. At least one federal case involved a court ordering new papers after the government failed to use the 13-point font the court had specifically required.
For regulatory filings, the consequences are more mechanical. A patent application in a script font or an SEC filing with smart quotes gets rejected by the processing system, sending you back to square one. The fix is usually straightforward, but a missed deadline caused by reformatting can create real problems. Check font requirements before you start drafting, not after.