What are the required pieces of a full case citation?
Every full case citation contains the same components in the same sequence: case name, volume number, reporter abbreviation, first page of the case, pincite (the page you are actually relying on), and a parenthetical containing the court and the year of decision. Punctuation is a comma after the case name, a comma before the pincite, and a period at the end.
Look at four real examples and notice what changes and what does not:
- Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 347 U.S. 483, 495 (1954). — no court is named because the reporter "U.S." can only mean the Supreme Court.
- United States v. Carroll Towing Co., 159 F.2d 169, 173 (2d Cir. 1947). — F.2d does not tell you which circuit, so the circuit goes in the parenthetical.
- Tarasoff v. Regents of Univ. of Cal., 551 P.2d 334, 340 (Cal. 1976). — a regional reporter never identifies the state, so "Cal." is required.
- MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co., 111 N.E. 1050 (N.Y. 1916). — no pincite when you are citing the case as a whole.
How do you cut the case name down?
Rule 10.2 governs case names, and it is where most points are lost. Use only the first-listed party on each side, and drop everything after the first party: no "et al.," no additional plaintiffs, no additional defendants. Delete all procedural phrases except the first — keep "In re," "Ex parte," and "ex rel.," but drop things like "on behalf of" when a party name already appears.
Spell out "United States" whenever it is a party; never write "U.S." or "United States of America." Omit "State of," "Commonwealth of," and "People of" unless you are citing a decision of that state's own courts, in which case keep only "State," "Commonwealth," or "People." Omit "The" as the first word of a party name. Drop "Inc.," "Ltd.," "L.L.C.," and similar terms when the name already contains a word like "Co.," "Corp.," "Ass'n," or "Bros." that shows the party is a business.
Then abbreviate. Inside a citation (Rule 10.2.2), abbreviate any word appearing in Table T6 and any geographic unit in Table T10 — "Board of Education" becomes "Bd. of Educ.," "California" becomes "Cal." But do not abbreviate a geographic unit when it is the entire name of a party. In a textual sentence (Rule 10.2.1), abbreviate far less: only widely recognized acronyms and a short list of words including "&," "Ass'n," "Bros.," "Co.," "Corp.," "Inc.," "Ltd.," and "No." That is why you write "Brown v. Board of Education held..." in text but "Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 347 U.S. 483" in a citation.
Which reporter do you cite, and do you need a parallel citation?
Table T1 tells you which reporter to use for every American jurisdiction. For federal cases: U.S. for the Supreme Court (S. Ct. or L. Ed. 2d only if U.S. is not yet available), F., F.2d, F.3d, or F.4th for the courts of appeals, and F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, or F. Supp. 3d for district courts. Federal Rules Decisions (F.R.D.) and Bankruptcy Reporter (B.R.) cover their specialized subject matter.
For state cases, the default under Rule 10.3.1 is a single reporter — the regional reporter (N.E.3d, P.3d, S.W.3d, etc.) — even where an official state reporter exists. The major exception is local rule: many state courts require a parallel citation to the official reporter in documents filed there, and some require a public-domain or "neutral" citation format (Rule 10.3.3). This genuinely varies by jurisdiction. Check the state's citation rule and the Bluebook's jurisdiction-specific local rules table before filing anything; for a law review or a legal writing assignment, use the single regional reporter unless told otherwise.
A parallel citation, when required, looks like this: Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928). Note that when the official reporter identifies the state, you drop the state from the parenthetical.
When does the court go in the parenthetical, and what date do you use?
Rule 10.4 sets a simple test: identify the court and jurisdiction unless the reporter name already conveys them unambiguously. Supreme Court cases in U.S. need nothing. Circuit cases need the circuit ("2d Cir.," "9th Cir.," "D.C. Cir.," "Fed. Cir."). District court cases need the district ("S.D.N.Y.," "N.D. Cal.," "D. Mass."). State cases in a regional reporter need the state, plus the court abbreviation from Table T1 if the deciding court is not the state's highest court — for example "(Cal. Ct. App. 2004)" or "(N.Y. App. Div. 1998)." Departmental and divisional designations are omitted.
For a case published in a reporter, the parenthetical gives only the year of decision (Rule 10.5). Add a full month and day only for unreported cases and slip opinions. Do not use the year the volume was published.
How do you pincite, and when is the case name italicized?
The pincite is the page where your proposition actually appears, and it is mandatory whenever you are relying on something specific — which is nearly always. Give it after the first page, separated by a comma: 347 U.S. 483, 495. For a span, drop repeated digits but always keep the last two: 493-95, not 493-495; 1113-15, not 1113-1115. If the first page and the pincite are the same page, repeat the number (169, 169). Cite footnotes as "483 n.4" and use "at *3" for star pagination in electronic databases.
Typeface is where the two halves of the Bluebook diverge. In law review footnotes (Rule 2.1), case names in full citations are set in ordinary roman type, but case names are italicized in textual sentences, in short-form citations, and in case history phrases like "aff'd." In documents submitted to a court, the Bluepages (B2) tell you to italicize or underline case names in every citation, full or short. Pick the convention your reader expects and stay consistent.
When do you add history, weight-of-authority, or dissent parentheticals?
Rule 10.7 requires you to append significant prior and subsequent history, using italicized abbreviations like aff'd, rev'd, vacated, and aff'd on other grounds. The commonly tested carve-out is denial of certiorari: include "cert. denied" only if the denial is less than two years old or is otherwise particularly relevant to your point. You may also omit history on remand or a denial of rehearing unless it matters to your argument.
Rule 10.6 covers explanatory parentheticals that go after the date. Use "(en banc)" and "(per curiam)" to signal the weight of the decision, and "(mem.)" for a memorandum decision. If you are relying on a separate opinion rather than the majority, say so after the date parenthetical — the form is a pincite to the separate opinion followed by "(Souter, J., dissenting)" or "(Kagan, J., concurring in part)." Note that a plurality opinion should be flagged as "(plurality opinion)" so your reader knows it is not binding reasoning.
How do you cite an unreported case, and how do you shorten later citations?
For a case available only in an electronic database, Rule 10.8.1 requires the docket number, the database identifier with the unique document number, a star pincite, and a parenthetical with the court and the exact date. The pattern is: Doe v. Acme Corp., No. 21-cv-1234, 2022 WL 987654, at *3 (D. Mass. Apr. 5, 2022) — that example is a form template, not a real case. If the opinion is truly unavailable in a reporter or database, cite the slip opinion or the docket materials under Rules 10.8.1 and 18.
Once you have given a full citation, switch to a short form. Use "Id. at 496" when the immediately preceding citation is to the same case and contains no intervening authority (Rule 4.1). Otherwise use the party short form: "Brown, 347 U.S. at 496." Choose one distinctive party name — not "United States," not a repeat-litigant government agency, and not a name that would be confusable with another cited case. Rule 10.9 permits the short form only if the full citation appears in the same footnote or in one of the preceding five footnotes; otherwise, give the full citation again.