Skip to Main Content

Writing Center Legal References: Legal References

Legal References

Bluebook Style: Legal Citations

Legal citations are required in a number of courses here at CSU Global. As you will see, there are notable differences between APA style and legal citation. This guide will help you to create a legal citation for legal materials according to the Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. It will provide examples of common legal sources you may encounter in your research, including:  

  • Cases
  • Statutes
  • Legislative Materials 
  • Administrative and Executive Materials
  • Patents, Constitutions, and Charters
  • Periodicals (Law Review Articles) 
  • Internet Sources

Review these best practices when using the Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation

  • Remember, the Bluebook is organized by "source type"
  • Quick Reference, located on the inside back cover, will identify commonly used source types
  • The Index is useful to find rules for other types not found in Quick Guides
  • We recommend you purchase a copy to provide detailed descriptions for all legal citations
  • For additional help with examples and How to Cite: see Legal Information Institute (LII) 

Recommended steps to create a citation

  1. Identify the source: is it a case, a statute, a book, a constitution?
  2. Find the rule in the Bluebook for that source.
  3. Review the rule carefully and the examples provided.
  4. Identify each component of the citation and pull them directly from the source.
  5. Draft a first pass of the citation from the most relevant example. 
  6. Edit the final citation for your paper using style rules from the Bluebook.
  7. Review video to learn how to incorporate the section symbol "§" in Word.

Structure of Legal Citations 

Citations will generally appear within the text of the document immediately following the content they support. One citation sentence may contain multiple citations separated by semicolons. 

Examples 

Newspapers & Magazines Author(s) full name(s), Title of Article, Abbreviated name of periodical, Article date, at p. #. 
Law Reviews & Journals  Author(s) name as it appears, Article Title, Vol. # Abbreviated Name of Review/Journal. p. #, p.# or p. #s (Date)

Periodical  Materials (Rule 16)

Basic Citation Forms - Article in consecutively paginated journal:

Elizabeth F. Emens, Integrating Accommodation, 156 U. Pa. L. Rev. 839, 894 (2008).

[Author(s) full name], [Title of Article], [Journal volume no.] [Abbreviation of journal] [First page of article], [Page or pages on which the specific material appears] [Date of pub.]

Note:

  • The article title in full (italicized), with all major words capitalized words other than prepositions & conjunctions begun with a capital letter. 
  • Works by more than two authors are cited using the first author's name and "et al." unless the inclusion of the other authors' names is significant.
  • Works by two authors (First name Last name) are cited using both names and separated by "&".

Magazines

Article in nonconsecutively paginated journal or magazine:

Benjamin Wittes, Without Precedent, Atlantic Monthly, Sept. 2005, at 39, 40.

[Author's full name] [Title of Article] [Name of Magazine] [Cover date of issue] [separates date from page no.] [First page of article] [Last page no.]

Newspapers (Rule 16.6)

John M. Border, Geography is Dividing Democrats over Energy, N.Y. Times, Jan. 27, 2009, at A1.

Online Newspapers (Rule 16.6(f))

Somini Sengupta, 'Climate Friendly' Meat? Regulators Tighten Scrutiny of Label Buzzwords, N.Y. Times, (Aug. 29, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/climate/usda-meat-chicken-climate-labels.html. 

(Internet and online newspapers may be used in place of print newspapers. Cite to the online source directly in accordance with rule 18.2.2. Pagination can be included if available but is not necessary. If the time of posting is available, include it in the parentheses in accordance with rule 18.2.2.)

Cases (Rule 10)

Basic Format Case Name, published or unpublished source Reporter p. # and if necessary, provide citation to specific page number(s) (Court Year of decision) (other information if applicable)(subsequent case history if applicable). 
Regional Reporter Case Name, Reporter Vol. # Reporter Abbreviation first page of case, Pinpoint citation (State Court Abbreviation. Year decided). 
US Supreme Court Case Name, US Report Vol. # Reporter Abbreviation. page # (Year of decision). 
US Court of Appeals  Case Name, Federal Reporter Vol # Reporter abbreviation page #s (abbreviation for deciding court. Year decided). 
US District Court  Case Name, Vol # to Federal Supplement Reporter | Abbreviation page number | (Deciding court abbreviation. Year decided). 

Regional Reporter

Marchetti v. Parsons, 638 A.2d 1047, 1052 (R.I. 1994).

US Supreme Court 

United States v. Grinnell Corp., 384 U.S. 563 (1966).

The above parenthetical citation is for United States Supreme Court case: Cite United States Reports (U.S.) if the opinion appears therein; otherwise, cite to Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.): see examples below for each of the following. 

Meritor Sav. Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 60 (1986)

Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv., 139 S. Ct. 361, 365 (2018)

US Court of Appeals

United States v. DeAngelo, 13 F.3d 1228, 1233 (8th Cir. 1994).

US District Court 

Glassroth v. Moore, 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (D. Mass. 2002).

 

Statutes (Rule 12)

State  State abbreviation. Code's abbreviation. Statutes section # (Date)
Federal  The official name of the act, Title # Code abbreviation. Statutes section # (Year).

Code

Administrative Procedure Act § 6, 5 U.S.C. § 555. 22 U.S.C. § 2567 (Supp. 1 1983).

State

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 10-7-402 ({date if needed}). 

Internet (Rule 18.2)

Cases

Case Name, Docket # (Court abbreviation and decision date), URL

*The Bluebook requires the use and citation of traditional printed sources when available, unless there is a digital cop of the source available Rule 18.2.1.

*If multiple online formats exist, use PDF when possible. 
Website

Author's Name(s), Title of Specific Page of Website, Title of Main Page of the Website, Date and Time, URL. 

*If there is no date associated with the specific webpage, use "last updated" or "last modified" dates should be supplied in the parenthetical after the URL. When material is otherwise undated, the date that the website was "last visited" should be placed in a parenthetical after the URL.   
Interview 

Name, Title, Institutional Affiliation (if any) of the interviewee, date of the interview.

*For an in-person interview, provide the location of the interview before the date. Abbreviate title, institutional affiliation, and location according to tables T6 and T10, and T11. 

Case

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205 (U.S. Jan. 21, 2010), http://wwwsupremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf

Website

Eric Posner, More on Section 7 of the Torture Convention, Volokh Conspiracy (January 29, 2009, 10:04am), http://www.nolokh.com/2009/01/29/more-on-section-7-of-the-torture-convention. 

Rowaida Abdelaziz, Advocacy Groups Renew Calls for Bloomberg to Renounce NYPD's Muslim Surveillance, Huffpost, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/muslim-surveillance-michael-bloomberg-nypd_n_5e424d5c5b66729cf6067d4 (last visited May 20, 2014).  

Interviews

Telephone Interview with John J. Farrell, Senior Partner, Hildebrand, McLeod & Nelson (Nov. 11, 1999).