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 FormatsALWD Citation Manual (pronounced all-wood or owl-wood)

Green Book (Texas)California Style Manual APAMLA 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 SourcesPrimary Sources:ConstitutionsCasesStatutes Regulations

Secondary Sources:Books/TreatisesEncyclopediasDictionariesALR’sLegal EncyclopediasPractice Guides Periodicals (law review/bar journal articles)Newspapers/MagazinesInternet Sources

ConstitutionsSee 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 Statutes1.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 StatutesExample:17 U.S.C. § 1201 (2006)

Note: Many judges and practitioners now delete the “Year of the Code”

Example:17 U.S.C. § 1201

Section number

Volume number

Year of the code

USCA and USCSWhere 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)

Name of the Reporter

Year of the Decision

Names of the PartiesVolume Number

Page Number

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. Met-Coil 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. JonesIncorrect: Smith V. Jones

Party Names

Do not include first names of parties, unless they are the name of a corporation:

Cite as: Smith v. JonesDo 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. GoreIncorrect: 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. GoreIncorrect: 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.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 non-consecutive 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!

PinciteMore 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.

AbbreviationsBe 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’nCommittee = 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

toAssist Unions, N.Y. Times, July 17, 2009, at A1

Internet ResourcesFollow Rule 18.2.2 when citing material online sourcesWhere 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 sourceAdds credibility to legal argumentsDirect and persuasive authority

Web Resourceshttp://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.cfmGeorgetown Law Library