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Law Citation Guide: Bluebook Basics for Cases, Statutes, and Briefs

In U.S. legal writing a citation is a retrieval map and a claim about authority, not a bibliography entry. This guide teaches The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (22nd ed. 2025) as a practitioner and journal system: how to read a reporter cite, when Bluepages and Whitepages part company, and how to cite cases, statutes, constitutions, regulations, and secondary sources without inventing numbers. It is the Bluebook workflow page, not the four-style case tutorial at How to Cite Legal Cases.

By 22 min read

The ornate two-storey reading room of the library at the Château de Chantilly
Photo: Gabriel Ghnassia, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
On this page

Open Table 1, copy the preferred reporter or code, and add a pincite for any quotation or holding. In a memo or brief, italicize the case name. In a law-review footnote, leave a full case name roman. If later history changes the force of the opinion, attach it. The 22nd edition's introduction, as the University of Washington Law Library reprints it, is the test every example below is built to meet.

Bluebook 22 templates

Published case (practitioner typeface):

Last Name v. Last Name, Volume Reporter FirstPage, Pincite (Court Year).

Short form after an intervening cite:

Last Name, Volume Reporter at Pincite.

Current official federal statute:

Title U.S.C. § Section (Year).

Law-review article (Whitepages):

Author, Title of Article, Volume Periodical FirstPage (Year).

Official Bluebook and Georgetown wording

The Bluebook is the style manual that governs how American legal documents are cited in legal memoranda, court documents, and law journals.
provide easy-to-comprehend guidance for . . . everyday citation needs.
lead the reader directly to the specific items cited.
In court documents (briefs, motions) and legal memoranda, a full case name is usually italicized or underlined. In academic legal writing (i.e., a law review article), full case names are generally not underlined or italicized.

The first sentence is Georgetown Law Library's About the Bluebook definition. The second is the Bluepages purpose Georgetown quotes from page 1 of the book. The third is the 22nd-edition introduction as UW reprints it. The fourth is Georgetown's citing-cases typeface rule. For one reported opinion written four classroom ways, use How to Cite Legal Cases. For a single Bluebook case, use How to Cite a Court Case in Bluebook.

What This Guide Is For

Use this page when you need a system: which book to open, which reporter Table 1 prefers, how a pincite differs from a first-page cite, when to add subsequent history, and how a signal changes the claim. It is written for 1L legal-writing courses, journal candidates, and anyone moving from APA or MLA into court documents.

It is not a substitute for the book, and it is not the multi-style case page. Classroom APA, MLA, and Chicago case forms live on How to Cite Legal Cases. The style landing page is Bluebook.

APA and MLA lists tell a reader where a source lives. A Bluebook citation also tells the reader what the source is worth. Georgetown's Supreme Court teaching cite, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is a cite to the Supreme Court of the United States. Georgetown's published circuit example, Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001), is a published federal court of appeals opinion. Georgetown's district example, City of Millville v. Rock, 683 F. Supp. 2d 319 (D.N.J. 2010), binds almost no one outside that district. Same grammar; different weight.

That is why legal writers cite as they go, in footnotes or citation sentences, rather than collecting a reference list at the end. The reader of a brief or a law-review note needs to know, in the same sentence as the claim, whether the support is a statute, a majority opinion, a dissent, or a restatement. Missing a subsequent-history flag (overruled by, aff'd, rev'd, cert. denied) is not a formatting slip. It can misstate the law.

ABA Model Rule 3.3 (Candor Toward the Tribunal) is the professional-duty reason the form matters: a lawyer who knows of directly adverse controlling authority in the same jurisdiction must disclose it. Citation form is how that duty appears on the page.

The Bluebook in 2026: 22nd Edition

The Bluebook is compiled by the law reviews of Columbia, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale, and published by the Harvard Law Review Association. The 22nd edition, released at the end of May 2025, is the first wholesale revision in more than a decade. If a syllabus, a journal, or a court still says "21st edition," follow that instruction. If it does not, use the 22nd. Buy or subscribe at legalbluebook.com.

The book has three working parts. The Bluepages at the front are the practitioner rules for memos, motions, and briefs. Georgetown quotes their purpose on page 1: they "provide easy-to-comprehend guidance for . . . everyday citation needs." The Whitepages in the middle are the full academic rules for law-review footnotes. The Tables at the back (and, for foreign jurisdictions, online) supply reporter abbreviations, court names, and preferred sources. UC Davis Mabie Law Library also notes the finding aids: Quick Reference inside the front cover (law-review footnotes), Quick Reference inside the back cover (court documents), plus the index.

Where first-year writers actually look
PartUse it forFirst rules to learn
Bluepages (B)Memos, briefs, motionsB1 typeface, B10 cases, B12 statutes
Whitepages (R)Journal notes and commentsR1 signals, R4 short forms, R10–R12, R18
Tables (T)Abbreviations and preferred reportersT1 jurisdictions, T6 case-name words, T10 geography

What Changed in the 22nd Edition

The University of Washington Law Library's 22nd-edition notes and UC Davis's summary agree on the changes that affect everyday student work:

  • Rule 1.2 adds the signal contrast, used when an opposing authority helps by difference rather than by comparison.
  • Rule 18 was rewritten for digital sources and now covers AI-generated content. Web-based Whitepages examples expect an archived copy (often Perma.cc) as it existed when cited.
  • Rule 22 is the first full system for citing materials of Tribal Nations; Table T1.5 lists federally recognized tribes and is freely available online.
  • Rule 23 adds structured forms for archival and historical sources.
  • Typeface language changed: the book now says "small capitals," not "large and small capitals."
  • Bluepages B5.3 allows a "(citation modified)" parenthetical for cleaned-up quotations.
  • Rule 12.4(f) lets writers omit some codification detail when the context already identifies the current official code.
  • New Bluepages B22 and B23 cover tribal and archival sources in practitioner documents.

None of those updates replaces local court rules. Bluepages Table BT2 still collects jurisdiction-specific citation manuals. If a filing is going to a state appellate court that publishes its own style guide, that guide wins.

How to Read a Case Citation

Rule 10 (Bluepages B10) is the case rule. A published case cite is a map through a reporter: a chronological set of opinions. The Library of Congress states the usual elements as party names, volume, reporter abbreviation, first page, and a parenthetical for court and year. Georgetown's federal-courts page is the clearest public walkthrough of those slots.

Case citation map (practitioner typeface)

Slots:

Last Name v. Last Name, Volume Reporter FirstPage, Pincite (Court Year).

Georgetown's Supreme Court pinpoint:

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973).

Georgetown's teaching example for a Supreme Court pinpoint is exactly that Roe cite: volume 410 of the United States Reports, the opinion beginning at page 113, the referenced passage at page 164, decided in 1973. No court name appears in the parenthetical because Table 1 makes U.S. enough to identify the Supreme Court.

Official Reporter First

If a case is in the official reporter, cite that reporter. For the Supreme Court, that is the United States Reports (U.S.). Unofficial reporters — S. Ct. (West's Supreme Court Reporter) and L. Ed. / L. Ed. 2d (Lawyers' Edition) — are fallbacks while the official volume is still being paginated. Georgetown's older teaching pair for Riley v. California shows the fallback. Once the bound U.S. volume exists, switch.

Georgetown's Riley pair, then the bound volume

Unofficial (as Georgetown printed it while U.S. lagged):

Riley v. California, 134 S. Ct. 2473 (2014).

Alternate unofficial:

Riley v. California, 189 L. Ed. 2d 430 (2014).

Preferred once the official volume exists:

Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014).

Federal courts of appeals and district courts have no official government reporter. Table 1 therefore sends you to West's Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d, now F.4th) and Federal Supplement (F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, F. Supp. 3d).

Georgetown's published federal examples

Court of appeals:

Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001).

District court:

City of Millville v. Rock, 683 F. Supp. 2d 319 (D.N.J. 2010).

Ninth Circuit (Library of Congress illustration):

Stearns v. Ticketmaster Corp., 655 F.3d 1013 (9th Cir. 2011).

Those first two cites do extra work. 2d Cir. is required because F.3d is a national reporter. D.N.J. is required because F. Supp. 2d is also national. Omit the court only when the reporter itself names it, as U.S. does for the Supreme Court. The Library of Congress uses Ticketmaster to walk the same slots: volume 655 of F.3d, first page 1013, Ninth Circuit, 2011.

Subsequent History

Rule 10.7 requires later history that changes the opinion's force. Case Western Reserve prints the Roe teaching pair every 2026 writer still needs. University of South Carolina adds a reversal that students actually meet in a whistleblower statute:

History that changes the weight

Overruled (CWRU):

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973), overruled by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., 597 U.S. 215 (2022).

Reversed (USC):

Lawson v. FMR LLC, 670 F.3d 61 (1st Cir. 2012), rev'd, 571 U.S. 429 (2014).

Other common history phrases: aff'd, cert. denied, abrogated by, superseded by statute. Do not invent a later history to make a sentence look complete. If KeyCite or Shepard's shows none, omit the clause. USC also prints the later Supreme Court opinion standing alone: Lawson v. FMR LLC, 571 U.S. 429 (2014).

Short Forms and Id.

After a full citation, Rule 4 and B10.2 allow a short form. Use the first party's name unless that party is a geographic unit or the United States, in which case use the second party. USC's Roe pair is the set editors expect:

USC short-form pair

Immediately following, different page:

Id. at 115.

After an intervening source:

Roe, 410 U.S. at 115.

Id. is available only when the immediately preceding citation is the same authority (and, in law-review footnotes, usually the same footnote). If another source sits in between, return to the named short form. Never write a short form that could name two cases.

Unpublished Opinions (Rule 10.8.1)

Most opinions are never printed in a reporter. Georgetown's unpublished-opinions page is the free walkthrough of Rule 10.8.1(a): case name, docket number, database identifier, court, and the full date (month, day, year). Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 lets parties cite unpublished federal opinions issued on or after 1 January 2007; local rules still control older ones.

Georgetown's Westlaw unpublished example

Database identifier present:

United States v. Bennett, No. 05-CR-6050 CJS, 2005 WL 2709572 (W.D.N.Y. Oct. 21, 2005).

Slip opinion only (no database identifier):

United States v. Bennett, No. 05-CR-6050 CJS (W.D.N.Y. Oct. 21, 2005).

Copy the docket number and the WL or LEXIS identifier from the record in front of you. Do not invent a Westlaw number. If the opinion later appears in F.3d or F. Supp., switch to the reporter and drop the database cite.

Statutes (Rule 12)

Cite a statute currently in force to the current official code when that code exists. For federal law that is the United States Code (U.S.C.). Georgetown's federal-statutes page uses the fair-use statute as the teaching example. Unofficial annotated codes (U.S.C.A., U.S.C.S.) are for when the official code is not yet current or when you are citing a database's currency statement under Rule 12.5.

Georgetown's 17 U.S.C. § 107 set

Current official code (print year on the volume):

17 U.S.C. § 107 (2012).

Popular name plus span:

Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-1332 (2012).

Named section as originally enacted:

Copyright Act of 1976 § 101, 17 U.S.C. § 107 (2012).

Unofficial annotated (West print):

17 U.S.C.A. § 107 (West 2015).

Unofficial annotated (LexisNexis print):

17 U.S.C.S. § 107 (LexisNexis 2016).

Westlaw currency (Rule 12.5):

17 U.S.C.A. § 107 (Westlaw through P.L. 115-72).

Lexis currency (Rule 12.5):

17 U.S.C.S. § 107 (LEXIS through PL 115-82, approved 11/2/17).

Georgetown's warning is the one students miss: the year in a code cite is the year on the spine or title page of the volume you used, not the year Congress enacted or last amended the section. Copy the Westlaw or Lexis currency line from the screen in front of you; do not reuse the 2015 / 2016 / P.L. 115-72 dates unless that is the compilation you actually opened. The 22nd edition's Rule 12.4(f) lets you drop some codification clutter when the sentence already makes the current official code obvious. Keep the year when you are citing a historical version, a supplement, or a commercial database's "through Public Law …" statement.

Constitutions (Rule 11)

Constitutional citations are short on purpose. Abbreviate the constitution, then the subdivision. U.S. article and amendment numbers are roman. Do not add a year to a provision still in force. Georgetown's other-resources page uses the two-Senators clause as the official illustration.

Georgetown's official illustration (two Senators):

U.S. Const. art. I, § 3, cl. 1.

Template for an amendment still in force:

U.S. Const. amend. [roman numeral], § [number].

Article I, Section 3, Clause 1 is the clause that gives each state two Senators. If you are citing a repealed provision, add a parenthetical such as (repealed 1933) — and only when the provision is actually dead. State constitutions follow the same pattern with the Table 10 state abbreviation: Cal. Const. art. I, § 7 is the form, not a URL to a commercial reprint.

Regulations and Court Rules (Rule 14 and Rule 12.9)

Federal regulations currently in force are cited to the Code of Federal Regulations. The annual edition year belongs in the parenthetical. Georgetown's teaching regulation is the National Park Service pet rule. Court rules of procedure and evidence have their own compact forms; they do not take a year unless you are citing a historical version.

Georgetown's C.F.R. illustration:

36 C.F.R. § 2.15 (2017).

Summary-judgment rule (current rule, no year):

Fed. R. Civ. P. 56.

Relevance rule (current rule, no year):

Fed. R. Evid. 401.

36 C.F.R. § 2.15 is the National Park Service regulation on pets. Copy the C.F.R. edition year from the volume or e-CFR compilation you used; Georgetown's 2017 is a teaching date, not a command to keep citing 2017 forever. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 is summary judgment. Federal Rule of Evidence 401 is relevance. If a professor asks for "the rule," this is the form — not a URL to a commercial reprint.

Secondary Authority: Books, Law Reviews, and the Record

Primary authority is what a court must or may follow: constitutions, statutes, regulations, and cases. Secondary authority explains or restates that law. Cite it when it helps, and never dress it up as a holding. Georgetown's citing-other page prints a treatise and a journal article that first-year writers can reuse.

Georgetown's secondary and record examples

Treatise (Rule 15):

9C Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2552 (3d ed. 2008).

Law-review article (Rule 16):

Dan L. Burk & Julie E. Cohen, Fair Use Infrastructure for Rights Management Systems, 15 Harv. J.L. & Tech. 41 (2001).

Deposition in the record (Bluepages B17):

Dames Dep. 12, Aug. 7, 2002.

Wright & Miller is a multivolume treatise: volume 9C, section 2552, third edition, 2008. Burk and Cohen is the standard illustration of a consecutively paginated journal cite: authors, italic title, volume, Table 13 periodical abbreviation, first page, year. The Dames deposition is Georgetown's record-cite example for a fact in a brief. Writing at before the page is generally not required in trial-level record cites; appellate records often do use at (B17.1.2).

Signals, Typeface, and the Sentence Around the Cite

A citation sentence starts with a capital and ends with a period. A citation clause sits inside a textual sentence and takes commas. Introductory signals (Rule 1.2) tell the reader how the authority supports the sentence. Using no signal means the cited authority directly states the proposition. That is a stronger claim than see.

Signals first-year memos actually need
SignalWhat you are telling the reader
[no signal]The authority states the proposition.
SeeThe authority clearly supports the proposition; the inference is simple.
See alsoAdditional supporting authority, usually after a stronger cite.
Cf.The authority is different enough that the reader must analogize.
ContrastThe opposing authority helps by difference (new in the 22nd edition).
But seeThe authority clearly contradicts the proposition.
See generallyUseful background.

Direct support, no signal (Georgetown pincite):

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973).

Inferential support:

See Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973).

Typeface is the other half of the same problem. In practitioner documents (Bluepages), case names in citation sentences are italicized or underlined; id. and signals are italicized. In law-review footnotes (Whitepages), full case names in citations are generally roman, journal titles take small capitals, and signals stay italic. Georgetown's warning is the one students miss: do not italicize a full case name in a Whitepages footnote just because Word's default looks "legal."

Bluepages (memo or brief)

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973).

Case name italic; ordinary roman for the reporter.

Whitepages (law-review footnote)

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973).

Full case name roman in the citation; small caps for book and journal titles elsewhere.

Internet Sources, Archives, and AI (Rule 18)

Print or official electronic versions still beat a random URL. When you must cite the web, the 22nd edition wants the reader to see the page as you saw it. UW Law Library notes that Whitepages web examples now incorporate Rule 18.2.1's archive requirement: preserve the page with a tool such as Perma.cc, or keep a copy on file with the author or the journal.

Rule 18's AI provisions are for generated output you are actually discussing, not for a chatbot that helped you outline. If the paper is about the output, cite the tool and the date. If the paper is about a case the tool mentioned, cite the case — and open the reporter. For academic (non-Bluebook) AI forms, see How to Cite AI.

Update Before You File: Shepard's, KeyCite, and Free Citators

A perfectly formatted cite to bad law is still wrong. Before a brief, a journal cite-check, or a seminar paper that states the holding, run the authority through a citator.

  • KeyCite on Westlaw flags history and citing references.
  • Shepard's on Lexis does the same in Shepard's language (questioned, criticized, overruled).
  • [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/) case law is free and shows a "How cited" trail, but it is not a substitute for a professional citator on a filing.
  • [CourtListener](https://www.courtlistener.com/) (Free Law Project) is the best free full-text starting point and links into PACER.

Look for negative direct history first (reversed, overruled, vacated). Then scan citing cases in your jurisdiction. A Seventh Circuit opinion that distinguishes Corley does not erase Corley; it may still keep you from overstating the holding.

Court Rules Beat The Bluebook

The Bluebook is the default in law-school writing and in most federal practice. It is not always the document the clerk will apply. Check the local rules of the court you are filing in, and check Bluepages Table BT2 for a jurisdiction's own citation manual. Some state appellate courts want public-domain cites (year, court identifier, and opinion number) in addition to or instead of a reporter page. Some trial courts still want underlining rather than italics because they print in black and white.

ALWD's Guide to Legal Citation is the other teaching book. A number of legal-writing programs assign it instead of The Bluebook. The two systems agree on the reporter map and disagree on some abbreviations and typeface defaults. If your syllabus says ALWD, do not "fix" the paper into Bluebook form the night before it is due. The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation (the Maroonbook) is a third, simpler system used at Chicago.

Outside the United States, do not force Bluebook onto a UK, Australian, or Canadian assignment. Use OSCOLA for UK law schools, AGLC for Australian law schools, and see OSCOLA vs Bluebook or Bluebook vs AGLC when a comparative paper has to declare a house style. Field context lives on Law & Legal Studies citation styles.

A First-Year Citation Workflow

Before the sentence leaves the draft

  1. Identify the authority type: case, constitution, statute, regulation, rule, or secondary.
  2. Open Table 1 (or T1 online) and write down the preferred reporter or code.
  3. Copy volume, reporter, first page, and year from the opinion caption or the official code — not from a blog.
  4. Add a pincite for any quotation, holding, or specific fact.
  5. Add court abbreviations for every reporter that is not self-identifying.
  6. Run KeyCite or Shepard's; add subsequent history that changes the weight.
  7. Choose a signal that matches the logical relationship, not the one that "sounds cautious."
  8. Apply Bluepages typeface for a memo or brief; Whitepages typeface for a journal footnote.
  9. Check the court's local rules and BT2 before you file.
  10. Only then run a generator, and only as a draft.

Common Mistakes

  • *Citing S. Ct. after the U.S. volume exists. Table 1 prefers United States Reports. Georgetown's Riley* pair is the fallback, not the permanent form.
  • *Dropping the court from an F.3d or F. Supp. cite. Those reporters are national. Corley needs 2d Cir.; Millville needs D.N.J.*
  • Calling a California Court of Appeal opinion a "state supreme court" cite. Cal. App. 4th / Cal. App. 5th is the Court of Appeal; Cal. 3d / Cal. 4th / Cal. 5th is the Supreme Court.
  • Skipping the pincite on a quotation. Rule 3.2 requires the page you used. Georgetown's Roe teaching cite is 410 U.S. 113, 164.
  • *Writing see on a case that states the rule.* No signal is the stronger, and usually the correct, choice.
  • *Leaving Roe without Dobbs.* Subsequent history that overrules is not optional color.
  • Inventing a Westlaw number. If the opinion is unpublished, take the docket number and the WL cite from the database record in front of you, the way Georgetown does with Bennett.
  • Reusing Georgetown's 2012 / 2015 / 2017 code years as if they were current. Copy the year from the volume or the database currency statement you actually opened.
  • Translating case names or reporter abbreviations in a non-English paper that is still citing U.S. authority. The reporter cite stays in English.
  • Trusting a generator for signals and history. Software can assemble 410 U.S. 113. It cannot tell you whether the case is still good law.

Authoritative Resources

  • [The Bluebook Online](https://www.legalbluebook.com/): official text, Quick Style Guide, and T1.5.
  • [Georgetown Law Library Bluebook Guide](https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/bluebook): the best free Rule 10 and Rule 12 walkthrough, including the Corley, Millville, Riley, Bennett, and § 107 examples used above.
  • [UW Law Library, Bluebook 101 — 22nd edition](https://lib.law.uw.edu/bluebook101/22nd): edition-change notes aligned with the 2025 text.
  • [UC Davis Mabie Law Library Bluebook guide](https://libguides.law.ucdavis.edu/bluebook): structure of the book plus 22nd-edition table changes.
  • [University of South Carolina, Citing Federal Cases](https://guides.law.sc.edu/LRAWSpring/LRAW/citingfedcases): Lawson reversal, Roe short forms, and unpublished LEXIS/WL patterns.
  • [Case Western Reserve, Cases](https://lawresearchguides.cwru.edu/c.php?g=825981&p=5896885): Roe overruled-by Dobbs teaching pair.
  • [Peter W. Martin, Introduction to Basic Legal Citation](https://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/) (Cornell LII): free tutorial indexed to Bluebook 22 and ALWD, revised at the start of 2026.
  • [Library of Congress, case-law citations](https://guides.loc.gov/case-law/citations): reporter anatomy, including the Ticketmaster illustration.
  • [CourtListener](https://www.courtlistener.com/) and [Google Scholar Case Law](https://scholar.google.com/): free retrieval, then verify in a reporter or official slip opinion.
  • ALWD Guide to Legal Citation and Garner's The Redbook: teaching alternatives for form and for prose.

Draft the cite, then check the book

Use the court-case and statute generators to assemble a first-pass reference in Bluebook or in APA/MLA/Chicago. Then confirm the reporter, pincite, signal, and subsequent history against The Bluebook and a citator. Generators do not replace Table 1.

Court case citation generatorLaw and statute citation generator

Law citation FAQ

What edition of The Bluebook should I use in 2026?
The 22nd edition, published in May 2025 by the Harvard Law Review Association, is current. Use the 21st edition only when a journal, a professor, or a court still specifies it.
What is the difference between the Bluepages and the Whitepages?
Bluepages govern practitioner documents: memos, motions, and briefs. Whitepages govern academic law-review footnotes. The reporter map is the same; typeface and some abbreviations are not. Georgetown's short form of the Bluepages' job is "provide easy-to-comprehend guidance for . . . everyday citation needs."
How do I cite a U.S. Supreme Court case in Bluebook?
Cite the official United States Reports when it exists: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). Add a pincite after the first page when you quote or point to a holding (Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973)). If the U.S. pagination is not out yet, cite S. Ct. (preferred unofficial) rather than Lawyers' Edition, the way Georgetown did with Riley at 134 S. Ct. 2473.
Do I italicize the case name?
In a memo or brief, yes — italicize or underline the case name in the citation. In a law-review footnote, a full case name in the citation is usually roman. That Bluepages/Whitepages split is the most common 1L typeface error. Georgetown states it as: in court documents a full case name is usually italicized or underlined; in academic legal writing full case names are generally not.
When do I include the court in the parenthetical?
Whenever the reporter does not already identify the court. U.S. means the Supreme Court, so Roe takes only the year. F.3d and F. Supp. 2d are national, so you must add 2d Cir. or D.N.J. as Georgetown does with Corley and Millville.
How do I cite a federal statute?
Cite the current official code and copy the year from the volume you used. Georgetown's teaching cite is 17 U.S.C. § 107 (2012). Add a popular name only when it helps the reader (Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-1332 (2012)). Use U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S. when you are relying on an annotated or database text, and quote that database's currency.
What is a pincite?
The page that contains the material you are using, placed after the first page of the opinion: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973). A later short form uses at: Roe, 410 U.S. at 115. Quotations without pincites fail a cite-check.
Do I have to include subsequent history?
Yes, when it changes the authority's force. The CWRU teaching example is Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973), overruled by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., 597 U.S. 215 (2022). USC's reversal example is Lawson v. FMR LLC, 670 F.3d 61 (1st Cir. 2012), rev'd, 571 U.S. 429 (2014). Affirmances and "cert. denied" also belong when they matter to the weight of the case.
How do I cite an unpublished opinion?
Use Rule 10.8.1: case name, docket number, database identifier, court, and full date. Georgetown's example is United States v. Bennett, No. 05-CR-6050 CJS, 2005 WL 2709572 (W.D.N.Y. Oct. 21, 2005). Copy those numbers from the database record. If the opinion later appears in a reporter, cite the reporter instead.
Is The Bluebook required in every American court?
No. Many federal courts expect Bluebook-like form, but local rules and state style manuals control filings. Check the court's website and Bluepages Table BT2. Law-school assignments follow the syllabus: Bluebook or ALWD, Bluepages or Whitepages.
Can I use a citation generator for Bluebook?
Use one to assemble volume-reporter-page from fields you already verified, then check Table 1, the pincite, the signal, and a citator. The court case generator and statute generator are first-pass tools. They will not catch an overruled holding or a missing 2d Cir.