Political Science 418: Legal Research & Writing

Rules & Tables

Rule 10 (and Rule B10 in the Bluepages) governs how to cite cases. It contains extensive instructions on how to format case citations, and Rule 10 also provides guidance on citing briefs, court filings, and transcripts.

In addition to Rule 10, you may need to consult the following tables in order to format the case citation:

• Table 1: A list of
  •  Reporters* and reporter abbreviations
    • A reporter is a publication containing the opinions of a particular court or jurisdiction, organized chronologically by date of decision. 
  • Preferred sources to cite for federal courts and each state's courts
    • The opinions of a given court or jurisdiction are often published in more than one reporter. For example, opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court are published in three reporters. If a case is published in a reporter, The Bluebook prescribes which reporter is the preferred one to cite.
  • Courts and court abbreviations
     
• Table 6: Abbreviations for terms used in case names (e.g., America[n] = Am.)

Use Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citations (dubbed "Bluebook" for the color of its cover). 21st ed. (2020) at the 2nd-floor Reference DESK (in-Library use only, leave an ID at the Desk while you have it), and 20th edition (2015) available in 3rd-floor Main Collection, KF245 .U53.

Georgetown Law Library's online Bluebook Guide is very helpful.

UWW's business librarian has created some video Bluebook tutorials.

Courts may designate an official reporter and require particular citation formats. See, for example, SCR 80.02 "Proper citation" in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules that requires a public domain format for citing cases since January 1, 2000.