Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 26(a) sets midnight as the deadline for electronic filings, but allows each circuit to change that deadline. Here's the Third Circuit's proposed change, for which comments are due Feb. 18:
Documents received by the Clerk by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time will be filed as of the day of receipt and documents received after 5:00 p.m. will be filed as of the next day the clerk's office is open, regardless of the means of transmission (electronic filing or otherwise). Documents received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the last day for filing will be considered timely filed, unless a different time is set by a statute, local rule, or court order. Documents received after 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time will be considered untimely filed. For documents filed electronically, the electronic transmission must be completed by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the last day for the filing to be considered timely filed.
And the proposed change comes with an explanation:
