The Bluebook

General Citation Structure:

Case Name, Vol. Reporter Name First Page, Pincite (Court, Year). 

For Special Rules and Exceptions, please see Rule 10. 

U.S Supreme Court Cases

First Party v. Second Party, Report Vol. No U.S. First Page No, Pincite (Year).

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).

Federal Courts of Appeals Cases

First Party v. Second Party, Report Vol. No Reporter First Page No, pincite (Deciding Court, Year).

Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981)(en banc).

Reporters- F., F.2d., F.3d. 

United States District Court Cases

First Party v. Second Party, Report Vol. No Reporter First Page No, pincite (Deciding Court, Year).

Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981)(en banc).

Reporters- F., F.2d., F.3d. 

 

1. Case Names

Only the first named party on each side of the "v" should be cited. 

First and middle names, and initials of parties should be eliminated, leaving only the last names of the parties. 

Phrases indicated other parties (et. al) or alternative names (a.k.a) should be omitted.

Procedural phrases such as "in the matter of" should be abbreviated (In re)

Abbreviate all common words within table T6 and geographical locations in T10

2. Reporters and Other Sources

Table 1 indicates which reporter to cite to for all U.S. Jurisdictions. Usually in academic writing, citing to the regional reporter is best.

Reporter abbreviations can be found in Table 1. 

3. Court and Jurisdiction

Courts should be abbreviated using Table 1 and Table 7.

When citing to the United State Supreme Court, the court is not necessary to include in the parenthetical. 

4. Other parenthetical information, as needed. 

Weight of authority parentheticals can be used to indicate when you are using a dissenting or concurring opinion. 

An explanatory parenthetical can be used to briefly explain why the source supports the proposition. 

For more information- see Rule 10.6

5. Prior or subsequent info, as needed.

These phrases should be abbreviated according to Table 8. 

For more information- see Rule 10.7