Citation Cheatsheet
Contents:
Cases
Statutes and Constitutions
Secondary Authorities
Other
Cases
Case Names
• Always underline or italicize case names
• The "v." is lowercase, is followed by a period, and is not "vs."
• Follow case names by a comma, which is not underlined or italicized
• Do not include parties' first names, unless they are the name of a corporation
• If there is more than one plaintiff or defendant, use only the first
party on each side.
• Do not include words such as "et al."
• Do not abbreviate United States in a case name
United States v. Michigan
• Some words may be abbreviated, but do not abbreviate them if they are
the first word of a party. Common abbreviated words:
Admin. Administrator
Assoc. Associate
Ass'n Association
Bd. Board
Comm'n Commission
Comm'r Commissioner
Comm. Committee
Bros. Brothers
Co. Company
Corp. Corporation
Dep't Department
E. East(ern)
Educ. Education
Fed. Federal
Gov't Government
Inc. Incorporated
Ins. Insurance
Ltd. Limited
Muni. Municipal
N. North(ern)
Nat'l National
No. Number
Org. Organization
R.R. Railroad
S. South(ern)
Soc'y Society
Univ. University
W. West(ern)
• You can also abbreviate certain well-known organizations: NAACP, ACLU,
SEC, etc.
Case Reporters
Federal Cases:
• U.S. Supreme Court: Cite to U.S. If it's not yet published there,
cite to S. Ct., L. Ed., U.S.L.W., or LEXIS, in that order of preference.
Do not include parallel cites.
Smith & Jones, Inc. v. Couch, 401 U.S. 313 (1985)
• U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal: Cite to F., F.2d, or F.3d. Note no space
between the F. and the number. Include the circuit in the cite.
Davis v. Everett, 102 F.2d 24 (9th Cir. 1954)
• U.S. District Courts: Cite to F. Supp. Note the space between the F.
and the Supp. Include the district in the cite.
Flanders v. Glisan, 913 F. Supp. 885 (C.D. Cal. 1996)
State Cases:
• Cite to the regional reporter. Include the court in the cite.
Hoyt, Inc. v. Irving-Johnson Corp., 425 P.2d 976 (Cal. App.
1976)
Kearney v. Lovejoy, 777 P.2d 1024 (Cal. 1993)
Nonmajority opinions:
• If you are citing to a plurality, dissenting, or concurring opinion,
you must say so.
Parker v. Randolph, 442 U.S. 62, 84 (1979) (Stevens, J., dissenting).
History of Cases:
• Always include the subsequent history, if you are citing to the lower
court's decision. For example, if you wanted to cite to the 2d Circuit's
decision in a case later heard by the Supreme Court:
Marshall v. Northrup, 444 F.2d 67 (2d Cir. 1967), aff'd,
300 U.S. 119 (1968)
• If the date of the higher court's opinion is the same as the date of
the lower court's opinion, you need only give the date once, at the end:
Overton v. Pettygrove, 119 F.2d 888 (1st Cir.), cert. denied,
234 U.S. 764 (1947)
• Don't give prior history unless necessary.
• Common terms you'll see:
aff'd
aff'd on other grounds
rev'd
cert. denied
cert. granted
modified
reh'g granted
vacated
LEXIS
• If a case is available only on LEXIS, cite like this:
Vaughn v. Wilson, No. 95-124, 1995 U.S. Sup. Ct. LEXIS 3255,
at *16 (1995)
Quotations
• Always give the exact page of a quote, even when paraphrasing.
Quincy v. Raleigh, 213 U.S. 192, 202 (1958)
Short Forms
• You can use these when referring repeatedly to the same source.
• Id. can be used when you are referring only to the same source
you last cited. For a citation to the same page, simply type
For a citation to another page:
• Supra is used when id. can't be (that is, when you're referring
to a source other than the last one you cited), but can be used only with
secondary sources and not with cases, statutes, or constitutions.
• If you refer repeatedly to the same case, use the full cite the first
time you mention it. Afterward, use this form:
• If you refer repeatedly to the same case and you have given the cite
recently, you may also refer to it like this:
"The Court held in Upjohn that searches . . . ."
Statutes & Constitutions
Statutes
Federal
• Cite to U.S.C. or U.S.C.A.
12 U.S.C.A § 1986 (West 1996)
12 U.S.C. § 1986 (1996)
State
• The form varies by state. In California, include the name of the
particular code.
Cal Pen. Code § 187 (West 1989)
Neb. Stat. Ann. § 212-414(b) (West 1990)
Constitutions
Federal
U.S. Const. amend. XX
U.S. Const. art. I,, § 2, cl. 3
State
Secondary Authorities
Books
Stephen King, Pet Sematary, 321 (3d. ed. 1995)
Periodicals
Mary A. Paradise, Long Titles Are Uncool, 22 Neb. L. Rev. 125
(1990)
Encyclopedias
16 C.J.S. Evidence § 12 (1996)
Dictionaries
Black's Law Dictionary 826 (6th ed. 1990)
Annotations
Richard Forsyth, Annotation, Searches and Searches, 83 A.L.R.3d
957 (1988)
Other
Punctuation
• When a cite is in the middle of a sentence, follow it with a comma.
In Yeon v. Zimbardo, 421 U.S. 119 (1992), the Supreme Court
held that . . .
• When a cite is at the end of a sentence, follow it with a period.
This decision was overruled in Ankeny v. Burnside, 102 F.2d
65 (3d Cir. 1942).
• When you have a string cite (several cases cited in a row) separate them
with semicolons. Cite federal cases first, then state cases, and cite higher
courts before lower ones.
Several courts have held that the sun rises in the east. Caruthers
v. Druid, 414 U.S. 9 (1992); Major v. Minor, 2 F. Supp. 1245
(S.D.N.Y. 1912); California v. Parker, 421 P.2d 198 (Cal. App. 1978).
Quotations
• Always put exact quotes in quotation marks, and include a cite to the
exact page of the quote (this is called a pinpoint cite).
"The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places." Katz v. United
States, 375 U.S. 76, 82 (1965).
The Court held in this case that "res ipsa loquitur speaks for itself."
David
v. Goliath, 102 F.2d 6, 8 (4th Cir. 1967).
• Quotations of 49 words or less appear in the text, with quotation marks.
• Quotations of 50 words or more are called block quotes. They begin
on the next line from the regular text, they're single-spaced, and they're
indented at the right and the left by 1/2". Put the cite on the next line,
at the regular left-hand margin. Don't use quotation marks.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Samson v. Delilah, 92 S.E.2d 18, 24 (Ga. 1954).
• To delete one or more words within a quote, use ellipses. At the end
of a sentence, follow the ellipses by a period.
"The time has come . . . to talk of many things." Lewis Caroll, Alice
in Wonderland 56 (1872).
"You say you want a revolution . . . ." John Lennon, Revolution
1 (1968).
• Never start a sentence with ellipses. If you start a quote in the middle
of a sentence, or if you substitute letters or words in a sentence, use
brackets.
"[M]y troubles seemed so far away." Paul McCartney, Yesterday
2 (1966).
"Whenever he saw his wife, [Arnold] would give her flowers." Jones
v. Smith, 199 N.W.2d 19 (Neb. 1988).
• When one authority is quoting from another, indicate it.
"Citations suck." Brennan v. Marshall, 102 F. Supp. 1234, 1236
(D. Mass. 1984) (quoting Scalia v. Stevens, 313 U.S. 653, 655 (1976)).
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2 January 2001
Phyllis B.
Gerstenfeld