Research Guides: An Introduction to The Bluebook: Cases

Overview

Rule 10 covers how to cite court opinions and related filings. It works in conjunction with several tables:

Table T1 (United States Jurisdictions): Lists abbreviation and citation conventions for federal, state, and tribal materials. When court opinions are cited in multiple reporters, the table identifies the preferred source(s) for citation.

A reporter is a publication of judicial opinions, arranged chronologically, and usually specific to a jurisdiction or region. Opinions are often published in multiple reporters. For example, California Supreme Court opinions are published in at least two of the following three reporters: the Pacific Reporter, California Reports (the official reporter), and West's California Reporter. The California section of Table T1.3 prefers that California Supreme Court opinions be cited to the Pacific Reporter when possible.
Table T2 (Foreign Jurisdictions): Covers international case law and other foreign and international law sources. Table T2 is no longer included in the print version of The Bluebook, but it is available for free at legalbluebook.com.
Table T6 (Case Names and Institutional Authors in Citations) lists words that should be abbreviated in case name citations. New or updated abbreviations in the 22nd edition of The Bluebook include Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Digital (Digit.), Dispute (Disp.), Inequality (Ineq.), Nationality (Nat'y), Psycholog[ical, ist, y] (Psych.), Telecommunication (Telecomm.), and Weekly (Wkly.).
Table T7 (Court Names) lists abbreviations for court names in case citations. The 22nd edition of The Bluebook added abbreviations for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (F.I.S.C.) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (F.I.S.C.R.)
Table T10 provides abbreviations for states, cities, countries, and other jurisdictions used in legal citations (especially in case names). Use this table alongside Rule 10 and Table T6 to format party names and locations in citations accurately.

To cite cases correctly, check both Rule 10 and the applicable table. To construct short form citations for cases, refer to Rule 10.9.

Example case or court filing citations:

Source Type	Example(s)	Explanation
California Supreme Court case	People v. Anderson, 493 P.2d 880, 881 (Cal. 1972).	According to Table T1.3, the Pacific Reporter is the preferred regional reporter for California cases. Because this opinion was published in the Pacific Reporter Second, the correct reporter abbreviation is P.2d. The pinpoint citation is to page 881. The court and jurisdiction are shown in parentheses. Table T10.1 provides Cal. as the correct abbreviation for the California Supreme Court.
California Court of Appeals case	Chen v. County of Orange, 116 Cal. Rptr. 2d 786 (Ct. App. 2002).	Table T1.3 lists West's California Reporter as the preferred reporter for California Court of Appeal cases published after 1959. Because California has multiple appellate courts, Rule 10.4(b) requires specifying the court name in the parenthetical when citing.
Unreported California Court of Appeals case	In re Dylan M., Nos. G041042, G041229, 2009 WL 1879230, at *2 (Cal. Ct. App. June 30, 2009).	See Rule 10.8.1(a) for citing to pending and unreported cases available in commercial databases.
U.S. Supreme Court filing (case not yet decided)	Reply of Petitioners at 4, Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission, No. 18-1501 (U.S. Sept. 18, 2019), https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/liu-v-securities-and-exchange-commission/ (follow "Reply of petitioners Charles C. Liu, et al, filed" hyperlink).	Rule 10.8.3 governs citations to briefs, court filings, and transcripts. Because this case had not yet been decided when this citation was constructed, you will also need to consult Rule 10.5(c), which addresses pending cases. The U.S. abbreviation comes from Table T7 on Court Names. Finally, the URL is formatted according to Rule 18.2.2(d).