Bluebook Citation 101 -- Practitioner Format

Bluebook

Rule 10 of The Bluebook (22nd ed. 2025) governs the citation of cases. B. 10 and Tables 1, 6, 7, and 10 should also be consulted. 

The citation should include the following:

Elements

• Case Name - first listed parties on each side (use T. 6), italicize or underline.
  • Do not omit the first-listed relator or any portion of a partnership name.
  • Omit et al. and alternative names
  • Abbreviate procedural phrases to ex rel. or in re see 10.2.1(b) and B10.1.1(iv) for more detail.
  • Do not abbreviate the United States when it is a named party.
  • Omit "State of" etc.except when citing decisions of that state to a court in that state.
  • Omit "City of" etc. unless it begins a party's name.
  • Omit geographical designations following a comma.
  • Omit prepositional phrases of location that don't follow a city etc. unless that would only leave one word as the name of the party or if the location is part of the name of a business or similar entity.
    • But not for larger geographical designations such as countries.
    • But do omit "of America" after United States.
    • Keep geographic designations that are not prepositional.
  • Omit business firm designations such as "Inc.," Ltd., etc if another business designation is already part of the citation
  • Use "Comm'r." for the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue.
  • A helpful number identifier may be used for cases with multiple dispositions.
  • Abbreviate any word in T.6 even if it is the 1st word of a party's name except if it is the entirety of a geographical unit.
  • Abbreviate geographical units in T.10 except if it is the entirety of a geographical unit.
• Volume
• Reporter (see T. 1)
  • For documents submitted to state courts, cite according to the local rules not T.1. B.10.1.3 & BT2.2 provide further information on local rules.Ohio follows the Supreme Court of Ohio Writing Manual.
  • Otherwise, for state court decisions, cite to the regional reporter unless the decision cannot be found there.
    • If there is an official public domain or neutral citation format, cite to it.
  • If a case is not available in an official or preferred unofficial reporter or as a public domain citation, cite another unofficial reporter, a database like Lexis or Westlaw, a service, a slip opinion, an internet source, or a newspaper, in that order of preference.
  • Reporter abbreviations can be found in T.1. R. 6 covers spacing in reporter abbreviations.
    • Generally, close up all adjacent single capitals unless there is a single capital with a longer abbreviation following it.
      • Numbers and ordinals are treated as single capitals.
• Page
• Court and jurisdiction in parenthetical (see T.1, T.7, T.10 for abbreviations)
  • Omit the jurisdiction or court abbreviation if it is in the reporter title.
  • It is not required to indicate the department, district, or county for intermediate state courts but include it if it is of particular relevance.
• Year in parenthetical
  • Give the exact date for unreported cases (but the exact date is not necessary for unpublished but reported) and for all cases cited to a looseleaf service, a slip opinion, an electronic database, or a newspaper.
• Other parentheticals as needed.
  • If you are citing a case for something that is not the single clear holding of the majority.
  • When a case you are citing itself quotes or cites another case for that same point - See R. 10.6.3 & 1.5
  • Phrases quoting the authority -- See R.1.5(a)(ii)
  • To explain the relevance of the case to what is cited in the text -- use present participle See R.1.5(a)(i)
  • You can nest parentheticals if needed.
  • Subsequent History after parenthetical with the court and year (if applicable)
• Subsequent History after parenthetical (if applicable)

Example 1:

United States v. Prince Line, Ltd., 189 F.2d 386, 387 (2d Cir. 1951).

Explanation 1:

• Case Name:  Note there is no abbreviation of United States per 10.2.2.  Abbreviate Ltd. Per R. 10.2.1(c), T.6. 
• Reporter:  Abbreviate the F.2d reporter per R. 6 (single adjacent caps), R. 6.2(b)(ii) (no superscript, use 2d instead of 2nd) & T.1.
• Court:  Abbreviate Second Circuit per R. 6, T.1, T.7.  Note that there is no superscript per R. 6.2(b)(ii).

Example 2:

Coates v. City of Cincinnati, 402 U.S. 611 (1971)

Explanation 2:

• Case Name: We don't omit "City of" because it begins a party name.
• Volume
• Reporter:  Cite to the United States Reports and abbreviate the United States Reports to U.S. per T.1.
• Page number: Page number the case begins on since we are not pinpoint citing.
• Court:  Because the court is clear from the reporter, no need to provide the court in the parenthetical
• Year of decision

Example 3

State v. Moore, 2018-Ohio-3237, 154 Ohio St. 3d 94, 111 N.E.3d 1146.

Explanation 3

• Case name: Omit "State of" and since we would be citing this Ohio case before an Ohio court, we use "State."
• Reporter: Follow T.1, Ohio has a public domain citation format so T.1 tells you to the citation is first to the web citation, then the official reporter, and finally the regional reporter.
• Court:  Because the court is clear from the reporter, no need to provide the court in the parenthetical
• Year: Because the year is clear from the web citation, no need to provide the year in the parenthetical.

Example 4:

Arredondo v. Pollard, 498 F. Supp. 2d 1113 (E.D. Wis. 2007), aff’d sub nom. Arredondo v. Huibregtse, 542 F.3d 1155 (7th Cir. 2008).

Explanation 4:

• Case Name
• Reporter:  Abbreviate the F. Supp. 2d reporter and the F.3d reporter per R. 6 (single adjacent caps), R. 6.2(b)(ii) (no superscript, use 2d instead of 2nd and 3d instead of 3rd) & T.1.
• Court:  Abbreviate Eastern District of Wisconsin and 7th Circuit per R. 6, T.1, T.7, T.10.  Note that there is no superscript per R. 6.2(b)(ii).
• Subsequent History, name change on appeal: R. 10.7, 10.7.2, T.8

ALWD

Rule 12 of the ALWD Citation Manual (7th ed.) covers the citation of cases.

Elements

• Case Name - first listed parties on each side (italicized or underlined) (see chart 12.1)
• Volume
• Reporter (see chart 12.2, local court rules - Appendix 2, )
• Page
• Court and jurisdiction (see Appendices 1 and 4 for court abbreviations)
• Year
• Subsequent History (if applicable)

Example

United States v. Prince Line, Ltd., 189 F.2d 386, 387 (2d Cir. 1951).