Citation Guides
How to Cite a Court Case
A full case citation identifies the parties, tells the reader exactly where the opinion is printed, and identifies the deciding court and year. The same four-part structure covers every American court, from the Supreme Court to a state trial court.
The format
Name v. Name, [volume] [reporter] [first page] ([court] [year])
Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
The pieces, in order
- Case name. First party versus second party, italicized or underlined, abbreviated per Bluebook Rule 10.2 (one party per side, drop "et al.", abbreviate common words like Corp., Inc., Dep't).
- Volume. The reporter volume number: 556 in the example.
- Reporter. The book series where the opinion appears: U.S. (Supreme Court), F.4th (federal courts of appeals), F. Supp. 3d (federal district courts), or a regional reporter like P.3d and N.E.3d for state courts.
- First page. The page where the opinion begins: 662. To point at a specific passage, add a pinpoint page after a comma: 556 U.S. 662, 678.
- Court and year. In parentheses. Omit the court when the reporter makes it obvious: U.S. means the Supreme Court, so no court abbreviation is needed. A Ninth Circuit case reads (9th Cir. 2021); a state case cited to a regional reporter names the state court: (Cal. 2019).
Common mistakes
- Leaving out the court when citing a regional reporter. 123 P.3d 456 (2005) tells the reader nothing about which of fifteen states decided it; write (Nev. 2005).
- Citing the syllabus or headnote page instead of the first page of the opinion itself.
- Using "vs." instead of "v." in the case name.
- Forgetting the pinpoint cite. When you quote an opinion, courts expect the exact page, not just where the case starts.
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More citation guides
Formats follow standard Bluebook conventions. Individual courts may impose their own citation rules; always check the local rules of the court you are filing in. CiteLaw provides legal information, not legal advice.