8. Does the Rules of Decision Act require federal courts to follow state procedures as “rules of decision”? Justice Reed’s concurring opinion in Erie emphasized the power of Congress to enact procedures for the federal courts. What constitutional provisions support that assertion? Until the adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Process Act of 1792, as amended in 1872, required federal courts to conform their procedure in common law disputes to those of the state in which the court sat. See Burbank, The RulesEnabling Act of 1934, 130 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1015 (1982).