Bluebook Citation
What is the Bluebook?
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 19th ed.
Compiled by the editors of the Columbia Law Review,
the Harvard Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania
Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal.
Other Legal Citation Formats
ALWD Citation Manual (pronounced all-wood or owl-wood)
Green Book (Texas)
California Style Manual
APA
MLA
Bluebook citation format is most frequently used
Purpose of Citation
Identify the document and document part to which the
writer is referring
Provide the reader with sufficient information to find the
document or document part
Furnish important additional to assist readers in deciding
whether or not to pursue the reference
Importance of Citations
Judges care about citations and how briefs
are drafted.
"Plaintiffs’ . . . complaint . . . could have been drafted in
crayon on the back of a napkin.” Castro v. City of
Chicago,1998 WL 801814, at *2 (N.D.Ill. Nov. 13, 1998).
Bluebook Introduction
For generations, law students, lawyers, scholars,
judges, and other legal professionals have relied
on The Bluebook’s unique system of citation in
their writing.
What is a citation?
Black’s Law Dictionary defines “citation” as:
A reference to a legal precedent or authority, such as a
case, statute, or treatise, that either substantiates or
contradicts a given position
Often shortened to cite
Types of Legal Sources
Primary Sources:
Constitutions
Cases
Statutes
Regulations
Secondary Sources:
Books/Treatises
Encyclopedias
Dictionaries
ALR’s
Legal Encyclopedias
Practice Guides
Periodicals (law review/bar journal articles)
Newspapers/Magazines
Internet Sources
Constitutions
See Bluebook Rule 11
1.The state (or country) abbreviation;
2.The abbreviation for "Constitution"; and
3.The section or subdivision you are citing.
Examples:
U.S. Const. art. 1, § 8
Minn. Const. art. I, § 13
Statutes
Statutes – enacted by legislature (Congress or state legislature)
Regulations – enacted by administrative agencies
Codes – a systematic collection or revision of laws, rules, or regulations
“Code” can refer to statutes or regulations
Federal Statutes: compiled in the United States Code
“U.S.C.” or “U.S. Code”
Federal Regulations: compiled in the Code of Federal
Regulations “CFR”
Federal Statutes
1.The title number;
2.The code's abbreviation;
3.The section number of the statute; and
4.The year on the spine of the code volume
(not the year the statute became effective)
Example:
17 U.S.C. § 1201 (2006)
Federal Statutes
Year of the code
Example:
17 U.S.C. § 1201 (2006)
Volume number
Section number
Note: Many judges and practitioners now delete the “Year
of the Code”
Example:
17 U.S.C. § 1201
USCA and USCS
Where possible, cite the official code and not unofficial codes
Unofficial versions of the U.S. Code from commercial publishers
United States Code Annotated (West)
17 U.S.C.A. § 1201 (West 2000)
United States Code Service (LexisNexis)
17 U.S.C.S. § 1201 (LexisNexis 2004)
State Statutes
Varies by state
Minnesota:
Minn. Stat. § 609.185 (2010)
Wisconsin:
Wis. Stat. § 134.98 (2010)
Utah:
Utah Code section 30–3–10.4 (2008)
Utah Code Ann. § 57–3–103 (Supp.2010)
Cases: Background
A court opinion is the court’s written statement
explaining its decision in a “case” or “opinion”
often written by an appellate court.
Judicial opinions are printed in bound
law reporters or reporters.
Law Reporter
A law reporter (or “law report”) is a published volume of
judicial decisions by a particular court or group of courts.
Law reports may be either official (published by the
government) or unofficial (published by a private
publisher).
Components of a Citation
Brown v. Helvering, 291 U.S. 193 (1934)
Volume Number
Page Number
Names of the Parties
Name of the
Reporter
Year of the
Decision
U.S. Supreme Court Cases
The opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court are published
officially in a set of case books called the United States
Reports.
In the citation Morgan v. United States, 304 U.S. 1
(1938), “304 U.S. 1” is the abbreviation from the U.S.
Reports.
Commercial Publishers
Supreme Court cases also appear in:
The Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.) published by
Thomson-West and;
The United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers'
Edition 2d (L.Ed.) published by Lexis
Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.)
United States Supreme Court Reports,
Lawyers' Edition (L.Ed., L.Ed.2d)
What is a parallel citation?
Reference to a case that has been reported in more than one
reporter.
Bluebook citation reads: Morgan v. United States, 304 U.S. 1 (1938)
The same reference including parallel citations reads: Morgan v.
United States, 304 U.S. 1, 58 S.Ct. 773, 82 L.Ed. 1129 (1938)
The main citation is to the U.S. Reports (U.S.) and the parallel
citations are to the Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.) and to the
Lawyer's Edition (L.Ed.)
What is the Federal Reporter?
The Federal Reporter (“F.2d” or “F.3d”) is case law
reporter containing opinions from the U.S. courts of
appeals and the court of Federal Claims.
Example: Mejdrech v. MetCoil Systems Corp., 319 F.3d
910 (7th Cir. 2003)
What is the Federal Supplement?
The Federal Supplement Reporter (“F.Supp.” or
“F.Supp.2d”) is case law reporter containing
select opinions from U.S. District Courts.
Example: Potts v. Dyncorp
Intern. LLC, 465 F.Supp.2d
1245 (M.D.Ala. 2006)
State Cases: Regional Reporters
State cases are published in regional reporters. West's National
Reporter System is a set of reporters that divides the 50 states and
the District of Columbia into seven regions:







South Western Reporter (S.W.2d, S.W.3d)
Atlantic Reporter (A.2d)
North Eastern Reporter (N.E.2d)
North Western Reporter (N.W.2d)
Pacific Reporter (P.2d, P.3d)
South Eastern Reporter (S.E.2d)
Southern Reporter (So.2d)
Map of Regional Reporters
Minnesota State Cases
Minnesota Supreme Court:
Minnegasco, Inc. v. County of Carver, 447 N.W.2d 878
(Minn. 1989)
Minnesota Court of Appeals:
Great W. Cas. Co. v. Christenson, 450 N.W.2d 153
(Minn. Ct. App. 1990)
Minnesota State Capitol
Wisconsin State Cases
Wisconsin Supreme Court:
Aicher v. Wis. Patients Comp., 613 N.W.2d 849, 865
(Wis. 2000)
Wisconsin Court of Appeals:
Sudgen v. Bock, 641 N.W.2d 693 (Wis. Ct. App. 2002)
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Use lowercase “v.”
Use the lowercase “v.” in case citation
Correct: Smith v. Jones
Incorrect: Smith vs. Jones
Incorrect: Smith V. Jones
Party Names
Do not include first names of parties,
unless they are the name of a corporation:
Cite as: Smith v. Jones
Do not cite as: John Smith v. Paul Jones
Cite as: Baker v. John Smith Inc.
Party Names
If there is more than one plaintiff or defendant, use only
the first party on each side.
Correct: Bush v. Gore
Incorrect: George W. Bush and Richard Cheney,
Petitioners v. Albert Gore, Jr., et al.
Case Names
Use italics (not underlines)
Correct: Bush v. Gore
Incorrect: Bush vs. Gore
Incorrect: Bush v. Gore
Dates
Generally, include only the year of the decision.
Example (reported case):
Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000)
If the case is unpublished, include the month, day, and
year.
Example (unreported case):
Castro v. City of Chicago,1998 WL 801814 (N.D.Ill. Nov.
13, 1998).
United States
Use “United States” when the United States is a party
Do not use “U.S.” or “United States of America”
“United States” is never abbreviated when the United
States is a party in a case name. However, it may be
abbreviated as part of another party’s name, like any
other word in T.11. In textual sentences, “U.S.” may be
used as an adjective, but it should never be used as a
noun.
Example: United States v. Church of Scientology W. U.S.,
973 F.2d 715 (9th Cir. 1992).
Short Cite: Consecutive Citations
Give the long cite when a case is first cited in a
document. On references to the same case
immediately following that case (or “consecutive
citations”) use the short cite format with “Id.”
Full cite: McDonald v. Eubanks, 731 S.W.2d 769, 770
(Ark. 1987).
Short cite still citing page 770: Id.
Short cite now citing page 771: Id. at 771.
Using “Id.”
If the same citation immediately follows the previous
cite (consecutive citations), use “Id.”
If the same citation immediately follows the previous
cite (consecutive citations) but on a different page,
use “Id. at [page number]”
Example (same page): Id.
Example (page 97): Id. at 97.
Short Cite: Non-consecutive Citations
If the long cite has been previously given but the cite
does not immediately follow the cite (e.g. new cites
are given), use the short cite format for nonconsecutive citations.
Long Cite (first reference in document):
“The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.” Katz v.
United States, 375 U.S. 76, 82 (1965).
Short Cite (non-consecutive citation):
“The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.” Katz, 375
U.S. at 82.
What is a pinpoint citation?
A pinpoint citation is the page on which a quotation or relevant
passage appears, as opposed to the page on which a case or article
begins.
For example, the number 217 refers to the page number in the
pinpoint citation for Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 217 (1962)
Also called jump cite; pincite
McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, 540
U.S. 93 (2003) is a U.S. Supreme Court case
300 pages in length. Imagine trying to find a
quote in a 300 page case without a pinpoint
cite. Aaaargh!
Pincite
More examples:
Long cite: “The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.”
Katz v. United States, 375 U.S. 76, 82 (1965).
Short cite (consecutive): “The Fourth Amendment protects
people, not places.” Id. at 82.
Short cite (non-consecutive): “The Fourth Amendment protects
people, not places.” Katz v. United States, 375 U.S. at 82.
The first page of the opinion is on page 76 and the page where the
quotation appears is on page 82.
More Examples: Cases
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit:
Kennedy v. Nat'l Juvenile Det. Ass'n, 187 F.3d 690 (7th
Cir. 1999)
U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota:
Haghighi v. Russian-American Broad. Co., 945 F. Supp.
1233 (D. Minn. 1996)
U.S. District Court in Minneapolis
Unpublished Cases
Cases published in law reporters are “reported” or “published”
cases.
Unpublished cases may also appear on court websites or Westlaw
and Lexis, the leading online legal research services.
Courts may have local rules that prohibit attorneys from citing
unpublished cases.
Abbreviations
Be sure to use proper abbreviations in the Bluebook
Case names (Table T6)
Example: Association = Assn.
Court names in citing cases (Table T7)
Example: Probate Court = Prob. Ct.
Geographical terms in citing cases (Table T10)
Example: Minnesota = Minn.
Periodicals (Table T13)
Example: Wall Street Journal = Wall St. J.
More Abbreviations in Case Names
Check Table 6 for common abbreviations in case names
Association = Ass’n
Committee = Comm.
Corporation = Corp.
University = Univ.
Example: Jones v. Univ. of Minn.
Law Review Articles
1.The authors' name full as it appears in the article;
2.The title of the article or headline (italicized);
3.Volume number of the law review;
4.The abbreviated name of the law review;
5.The page number of the article's first page; and
6.The law review's year of publication.
Example:
Dan L. Burk & Julie E. Cohen, Fair Use Infrastructure for
Rights Management Systems, 15 Harv. J.L. & Tech. 41
(2001)
Other Secondary Sources
Legal Encyclopedia:
2 Am. Jur. 2d Administrative Law § 416
American Law Report (ALR) Annotation:
Mitchell J. Waldman, When Will Federal Court of Appeals Review Issue
Raised by Party for First Time on Appeal Where Legal Developments
After Trial Affect Issue, 76 A.L.R. Fed. 522 (1986)
Newspaper Articles
Include author, title, name of publication, date, and page
Example:
Steven Greenhouse, Democrats Drop Key Part of Bill to
Assist Unions, N.Y. Times, July 17, 2009, at A1
Internet Resources
Follow Rule 18.2.2 when citing material online sources
Where possible, cite the printed source
Provide: 1) Author's name; 2) Title; 3) Date of publication; and 4) URL
Do not simply provide the URL
Example:
Emily Bazelon, In Defense of the New Judicial Activists, Slate (Aug. 9,
2010), http://www.slate.com/id/2263347/.
When in Doubt?
See how the source is cited in a recent law review article
or recent case from the U.S. Supreme Court or state
supreme court
Used by legal practitioners
Think of purposes of citation:
Direct reader to a particular source
Adds credibility to legal arguments
Direct and persuasive authority
Web Resources
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/
Introduction to Legal Citation; Lots of Examples
http://www.legalbluebook.com/
Official Bluebook Site (online subscription available and FAQs)
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/bluebook1_7.cfm
Georgetown Law Library