Bluebook 21st Edition Citation Guide - Complete reference for legal citations

bluebook-citation-guide.md

Bluebook 21st Edition Citation Guide

Complete reference for The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020).

Quick Reference: Citation Forms

Cases (Rule 10)

[Case Name], [Vol.] [Reporter] [First Page], [Pinpoint] ([Court] [Year]).

Type	Example
U.S. Supreme Court	Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 495 (1954).
Circuit Court	Smith v. Jones, 500 F.3d 100, 105 (9th Cir. 2007).
District Court	Doe v. Roe, 200 F. Supp. 3d 50, 55 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).
State Court	People v. Smith, 50 N.Y.2d 100, 405 N.E.2d 123 (1980).
Unpublished	Smith v. Jones, No. 20-1234, 2021 WL 123456, at *3 (9th Cir. Jan. 15, 2021).

Party Name Rules:

• Omit "The" as first word
• Omit given names of individuals
• Omit "Inc.", "Ltd.", "L.L.C." unless only identifier
• Abbreviate per Table T6: & (and), Ass'n, Bros., Co., Corp., Inc., Ltd., No.
• "United States" → "U.S." (as party)

Subsequent History:

Smith v. Jones, 500 F.3d 100 (9th Cir. 2007), aff'd, 555 U.S. 100 (2008).
Doe v. Roe, 400 F.3d 50 (5th Cir. 2005), rev'd, 550 U.S. 50 (2007).

Statutes (Rule 12)

[Title] [Code] § [Section] ([Year]).

Type	Example
Federal (U.S.C.)	42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2018).
Multiple sections	42 U.S.C. §§ 1983-1985 (2018).
Subsection	42 U.S.C. § 1983(a)(1) (2018).
With supplement	42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2018 & Supp. II 2020).
Popular name	Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 (2018).
State (CA)	Cal. Penal Code § 187 (West 2014).
State (TX)	Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Ann. § 17.50 (West 2011).
Session law	Pub. L. No. 104-193, § 103, 110 Stat. 2105, 2112 (1996).

Key Rules:

• Use § symbol with space before number (not "Section" or "Sec.")
• Use §§ for multiple sections
• Year = code edition year, NOT enactment year
• Prefer U.S.C. over U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S.

Constitutional Provisions (Rule 11)

U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3.
U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1.
U.S. Const. pmbl.
Cal. Const. art. I, § 1.

No date for currently effective provisions.

Federal Regulations (Rule 14)

Type	Example
C.F.R.	17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5 (2020).
Federal Register	85 Fed. Reg. 12345 (Mar. 2, 2020) (to be codified at 17 C.F.R. pt. 240).
Proposed rule	85 Fed. Reg. 12345 (proposed Mar. 2, 2020) (to be codified at 17 C.F.R. pt. 240).

Books & Treatises (Rule 15)

[Author], [TITLE] [Pinpoint] ([Edition] [Year]).

Type	Example
Single author	Richard A. Posner, Economic Analysis of Law 45 (9th ed. 2014).
Two authors	William N. Eskridge, Jr. & Philip P. Frickey, Cases and Materials on Legislation 200 (5th ed. 2014).
Three+ authors	Erwin Chemerinsky et al., Constitutional Law 150 (6th ed. 2019).
Edited volume	The Federalist No. 78, at 464 (Alexander Hamilton) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961).
Chapter in collection	Kay Deaux & Brenda Major, A Social-Psychological Model of Gender, in Theoretical Perspectives on Sexual Difference 89, 89 (Deborah L. Rhode ed., 1990).

Law Review Articles (Rule 16)

[Author], [Title], [Vol.] [JOURNAL] [First Page], [Pinpoint] ([Year]).

Type	Example
Standard article	Cass R. Sunstein, On the Expressive Function of Law, 144 U. Pa. L. Rev. 2021, 2030 (1996).
Student note	Jane Student, Note, The Future of Privacy, 100 Harv. L. Rev. 1000 (2020).
Student comment	Jane Student, Comment, On Jurisdiction, 50 Stan. L. Rev. 500 (2015).

Common Journal Abbreviations (Table T13):

Journal	Abbreviation
Harvard Law Review	Harv. L. Rev.
Yale Law Journal	Yale L.J.
Stanford Law Review	Stan. L. Rev.
Columbia Law Review	Colum. L. Rev.
University of Pennsylvania Law Review	U. Pa. L. Rev.

Newspapers & Magazines (Rule 16.6)

[Author], [Title], [Publication], [Date], at [Page].

Type	Example
Newspaper (print)	Adam Liptak, Court Ruling Could Reshape Healthcare, N.Y. Times, June 26, 2015, at A1.
Newspaper (online)	Adam Liptak, Court Ruling Could Reshape Healthcare, N.Y. Times (June 26, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/...
Magazine	Jeffrey Toobin, The Obama Brief, New Yorker, Oct. 27, 2014, at 24.

Internet Sources (Rule 18)

[Author], [Title], [WEBSITE] ([Date, Time]), [URL].

Example:

Eric Posner, *More on Section 7 of the Torture Convention*, Volokh Conspiracy (Jan. 29, 2009, 10:04 AM), http://www.volokh.com/2009/01/29/more-on-section-7-of-the-torture-convention/.

For sources likely to change:

[URL] (last visited [Date]).

Archived URLs (preferred for permanence):

https://perma.cc/XXXX-XXXX

International Materials (Rule 21)

Treaties:

[Name], [Parties], [Subdivision], [Date], [Source].

Type	Example
Bilateral treaty	Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, Japan-U.S., art. X, Apr. 2, 1953, 4 U.S.T. 2063.
NAFTA	North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S.-Can.-Mex., Dec. 17, 1992, 32 I.L.M. 289.

United Nations:

U.N. GAOR, 56th Sess., 1st plen. mtg. at 3, U.N. Doc. A/56/PV.1 (Sept. 12, 2001).

Foreign Cases (Table T2):

Donoghue v. Stevenson, [1932] A.C. 562 (H.L.).

Restatements & Model Codes (Rules 12.9.5)

Type	Example
Restatement	Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 90 (Am. L. Inst. 1981).
With comment	Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 90 cmt. a (Am. L. Inst. 1981).
UCC	U.C.C. § 2-201 (Am. L. Inst. & Unif. L. Comm'n 2017).
Model Rules	Model Rules of Pro. Conduct r. 1.6 (Am. Bar Ass'n 2020).

Legislative Materials (Rule 13)

Type	Example
House bill	H.R. 1234, 116th Cong. § 2 (2020).
Senate bill	S. 567, 116th Cong. (2019).
House report	H.R. Rep. No. 116-123, at 5 (2019).
Senate report	S. Rep. No. 116-45, at 10 (2020).
Conference report	H.R. Rep. No. 116-789 (Conf. Rep.), at 15 (2020).
Hearing	Cybersecurity Threats: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec., 116th Cong. 25 (2020) (statement of Christopher Krebs).
Congressional Record	165 Cong. Rec. S1234 (daily ed. Feb. 10, 2019) (statement of Sen. Smith).

Court Documents (Rule 10.8.3)

Type	Example
Brief	Brief for Petitioner at 15, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (No. 1).
Transcript	Transcript of Oral Argument at 25, Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) (No. 08-205).

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias (Rule 15.8)

Type	Example
Black's Law	Black's Law Dictionary 1000 (11th ed. 2019).
Entry	Contract, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).
Am. Jur.	17A Am. Jur. 2d Contracts § 100 (2020).
C.J.S.	17A C.J.S. Contracts § 200 (2019).

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Short Forms (Rule 4)

Id.

Use when citing the same source as the immediately preceding citation with no intervening citations.

Context	Form
Same page	Id.
Different page	Id. at 496.
Different section (statute)	Id. § 1985.

Capitalization:

• Beginning of sentence: Id.
• After signal or mid-sentence: id.

NEVER use id. when:

• Intervening citation exists
• Prior footnote has multiple sources
• More than ~5 footnotes since full citation

Supra (Secondary Sources Only)

[Author], supra note [#], at [Page].

Example:

Sunstein, supra note 1, at 2040.

NEVER use supra for:

• Cases (use case short form)
• Statutes (use statutory short form)
• Constitutions
• Regulations

Case Short Forms

[Party], [Vol.] [Reporter] at [Page].

Context	Form
No intervening cites	Id. at 496.
Intervening cites	Brown, 347 U.S. at 497.
Ambiguous party	Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. at 498.

Statutory Short Forms

Context	Form
No intervening	Id. or Id. § 1985
Same discussion	§ 1983
Named act	Civil Rights Act § 703

Hereinafter

Define for long titles or multiple works by same author:

[Full Citation] [hereinafter [Short Name]].
...
[Short Name], supra note [#], at [Page].

Example:

1. Cass R. Sunstein, On the Expressive Function of Law, 144 U. Pa. L. Rev. 2021 (1996) [hereinafter Sunstein, Expressive Function].
...
15. Sunstein, Expressive Function, supra note 1, at 2040.

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Introductory Signals (Rule 1.2)

Support Signals

Signal	Use When	Parenthetical
[no signal]	Source directly states proposition	Optional
See	Source clearly supports but doesn't directly state	Recommended
E.g.,	One of multiple sources directly stating proposition	Optional
See, e.g.,	One of multiple sources supporting (not directly stating)	Recommended
Accord	Additional sources stating/supporting same proposition	Optional
See also	Additional helpful support	Recommended
Cf.	Supports proposition by analogy	Required

Contradiction Signals

Signal	Use When	Parenthetical
Contra	Source directly states the opposite	Optional
But see	Source clearly supports contrary proposition	Recommended
But cf.	Source supports contrary by analogy	Required

Comparison & Background

Signal	Use When	Parenthetical
Compare X with Y	Sources illustrate through contrast	Required for both
See generally	Provides helpful background	Recommended

Signal Order (Rule 1.3)

In a single citation sentence: [no signal] → E.g., → Accord → See → See also → Cf. → Compare → Contra → But see → But cf. → See generally

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Typeface Conventions

Law Review Format (White Pages)

Source Type	Format
Case names	Italics: Brown v. Board
Book titles	SMALL CAPS: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF LAW
Book authors	SMALL CAPS: RICHARD A. POSNER
Article titles	Italics: On the Expressive Function
Journal names	SMALL CAPS: U. PA. L. REV.
Newspaper names	Italics: N.Y. Times
Statutes	Roman: 42 U.S.C. § 1983
Procedural phrases	Italics: aff'd, rev'd, cert. denied

Practitioner Format (Bluepages)

Court documents and legal memoranda use different typeface conventions:

• Generally no small caps
• Underlining may substitute for italics
• Consult Bluepages B2 for specific requirements

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Parentheticals (Rule 1.5)

Weight of Authority

(en banc)
(per curiam)
(plurality opinion)
(Thomas, J., dissenting)
(Stevens, J., concurring in the judgment)
(5-4 decision)

Explanatory Parentheticals

Begin with present participle:

(holding that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal)
(finding no constitutional violation)
(noting the difficulty of the issue)
(rejecting defendant's argument)

Or quoted material:

("Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.")

Order of Multiple Parentheticals

1. Weight of authority (en banc, per curiam)
2. "Quoting" or "citing" information
3. Explanatory parenthetical

Smith, 500 F.3d at 110 (en banc) (quoting Roe, 400 F.3d at 60) (holding that...).

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Citation Sentences vs. Clauses (Rule 1.1)

Citation Sentence

Follows a textual sentence; capitalize signals at beginning:

The Constitution requires due process. U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1.

Citation Clause

Embedded within text; lowercase signals:

The Supreme Court has held, see Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), that separate is inherently unequal.

Punctuation

Position	Punctuation
End of citation sentence	Period
Between citations (same sentence)	Semicolon
Citation clause (embedded)	Commas on both sides

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Order of Authorities (Rule 1.4)

Within the same signal, cite in this order:

1. Constitutions (federal, then state alphabetically)
2. Statutes (federal, then state alphabetically)
3. Treaties
4. Cases
   • Federal: Supreme Court → Courts of Appeals (by circuit) → District Courts (alphabetically by state)
   • State: alphabetically by state, then by court hierarchy
   • Within same court: reverse chronological (most recent first)
5. Legislative materials
6. Administrative and executive materials
7. Secondary materials

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Common Abbreviations

Reporters (Table T1)

Court	Reporter
U.S. Supreme Court	U.S., S. Ct., L. Ed.
Circuit Courts	F., F.2d, F.3d, F.4th
District Courts	F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, F. Supp. 3d

Courts (Table T7)

Court	Abbreviation
Court of Appeals	Cir.
District Court	D., S.D., E.D., N.D., W.D.
Bankruptcy Court	Bankr.

Subsequent History (Table T8)

Action	Abbreviation
affirmed	aff'd
reversed	rev'd
certiorari denied	cert. denied
certiorari granted	cert. granted
vacated	vacated
overruled by	overruled by

Months (Table T12)

Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.

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Common Errors to Avoid

Case Citations

Error	Correct
347 US 483	347 U.S. 483
500 F. 3d 100	500 F.3d 100
(9th Cir. Ct. App. 2007)	(9th Cir. 2007)
(SDNY 2016)	(S.D.N.Y. 2016)

Statutory Citations

Error	Correct
Section 1983	§ 1983
§1983	§ 1983 (space required)
42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1871)	42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2018)

Short Forms

Error	Correct
Supra for cases	Use case short form
Id. after intervening cite	Use full short form
Supra without note number	Sunstein, supra note 1

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Verification Checklist

Before finalizing any citation:

• Source type identified correctly
• All elements present (volume, page, court, year)
• Abbreviations match Bluebook tables
• Pinpoint page included for specific propositions
• Typeface correct for document type (law review vs. practitioner)
• Signal accurately reflects source's relationship to proposition
• Parenthetical included when required (cf., compare)
• Short forms reference existing full citations
• Id. used only with no intervening citations
• Authorities ordered correctly within signals

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Based on The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020)