Bluebook Citation: Federal Cases

For information on federal courts, visit the U.S. Courts website.

See Table 1.1 (T1.1) in The Bluebook, pages 227-231, for a list of abbreviations of the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, and U.S. District Courts. 

For important local rules specific to each court, visit the Federal Courts Website page where you can navigate to each federal court's website.

Relevant Rules & Tables from The Bluebook

Rule 10: (Rule B10 in the Bluepages) governs how to cite cases. It provides instructions on how to properly format a legal case citation, as well as guidance on citing briefs, court filings, transcripts, and unreported cases.

Table 1: Contains a list of the full name and abbreviations for reporters and courts, as well as a list of preferred sources to cite for federal courts and each state's courts

Table 6: Provides the abbreviations for terms used in case names

Table 7: Includes abbreviations of court names in the event the abbreviation is not provided in T1

If the paper or court document is quoting directly from a case or there is a need to direct the reader's attention to a specific place in the case, a pinpoint citation can provide that information to the reader. If you are mentioning a case in its entirety, a pinpoint citation is not necessary. 

To properly pinpoint cite, after the first page of the case, add a comma and the specific page number the reader should be directed to. 

Here is an example:

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 161 (1803)

On October 1, 1981, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit divided into the new Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit. This has effected the citation style for cases from the Fifth Circuit prior to and during the transition of the spilt. 

These are the rules to follow regarding the 5th Circuit:

1. Cite decisions rendered in 1981 and labeled "5th Cir." by month;
2. Give unit information whenever available; and 
3. Designate as "Former 5th Cir." any nonunit judgment labeled as a Former Fifth judgment and rendered after September 30, 1981

For more information, see Rule 10.8.2 of The Bluebook. 

Here are a few examples:

Columbia Gas Dev. Corp. v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Com., 651 F.2d 1146 (5th Cir. July 1981)

Chancery Clerk of Chickasaw Cty. v. Wallace, 646 F.2d 151 (5th Cir. Unit A Mar. 1981)

Merchs. Nat'l Bank v. Dredge Gen. G. L. Gillespie, 663 F.2d 1338 (Former 5th Cir. 1981)

Elements of a U.S. Supreme Court Case Citation:

1. Name of Case 
   • Remember: If it is a court document, the case name is underlined or italicized, but if it is the first full citation of a case in a law journal article, the case is in plain text. See Rule B2 for court documents and Rule 2 for law journals.
   • Ensure that the case name is abbreviated according to Rule 10.2 
     • See Table 6 for a list of abbreviated words commonly found in case names
2. Volume of the Reporter
3. Reporter Abbreviation (See T1.1)
4. First Page of Case
5. Year of Decision

Here is an example:

Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 332 (1976)

The official reporter for U.S. Supreme Court opinions is the United States Reporter. If a Supreme Court case has been published by the United States Reporter, the legal citation should refer to that reporter.

However, there is typically significant lag between the case being decided, and the opinion being published by the United States Reporter. Under these circumstances, the case citation can refer to an unofficial reporter. Unofficial reporters include: Supreme Court Reporter; United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition; and United States Law Week. 

The Bluebook dictates citations should cite to Supreme Court Reporter over the others. (See T1.1)

Here is an example:

City & Cnty. of S.F. v. EPA, 145 S. Ct. 704 (2025)

Elements of a U.S. Court of Appeals Case Citation: 

1. Name of Case
   • Remember: If it is a court document, the case name is underlined or italicized, but if it is the first full citation of a case in a law journal article, the case is in plain text). See Rule B2 for court documents and Rule 2 for law journals.
   • Ensure that the case name is abbreviated according to Rule 10.2 
     • See Table 6 for a list of abbreviated words commonly found in case names
2. Volume of the Reporter
3. Reporter Abbreviation (See T1.1)
4. First Page of Case
5. Name of Court
   • Ensure court is abbreviated according to Rule 10.4
   • Table 1 and Table 7 provided a list of abbreviated court names
6. Year of Decision

Here is an example:

Comm. on Judiciary of United States House of Representatives v. McGahn, 968 F.3d 755 (D.C. Cir. 2020)

While U.S. Supreme Court cases have an official reporter, cases heard at a U.S. Court of Appeals are not complied and published by an official reporter. Instead, many of these cases are published in the Federal Reporter. Look to T1.1 for more information.

Elements to a U.S. District Court Case Citation:

1. Name of Case
   • Remember: If it is a court document, the case name is underlined or italicized, but if it is the first full citation of a case in a law journal article, the case is in plain text). See Rule B2 for court documents and Rule 2 for law journals.
   • Ensure that the case name is abbreviated according to Rule 10.2 
     • See Table 6 for a list of abbreviated words commonly found in case names
2. Volume of the Reporter (typically a Federal Supplement)
3. Reporter Abbreviation (See T1.1)
4. First Page of Case
5. Name of Court 
   • Ensure court is abbreviated according to Rule 10.4
   • Table 1 and Table 7 provided a list of abbreviated court names
6. Year of Decision

Here is an example:

United States v. Capone, 178 F. Supp. 320 (N.D. Ill. 1959)

Similarly to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Courts do not have an official reporter that complies and publishes the cases in the jurisdictions. Instead, many of the cases are published in the Federal Supplement. Look to T1.1 for more information.

There are multiple specialized federal courts, such as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. Tax Court, and U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. These courts all have slightly different citation rules.

Here are a few examples from some of the specialized federal courts:

U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

Hamill v. McDonough, 37 Vet. App. 65 (U.S. 2023)

Bankruptcy Court

In re Peete, 642 B.R. 299 (Bankr. E.D. Wis. 2022)

Tax Court

Blair v. Commissioner, 63 T.C. 744 (1975)

For more guidance, Table 1.1 of The Bluebook provides materials on how to cite cases from specialized federal courts. If the court being cited to is not listed in Table 1, look to Table 7 for additional abbreviated court names.