1. A Uniform System of Citation (Robertson School of Government Edition)
THE BLUEBOOK
A Uniform System of Citation
(Robertson School of Government Edition)
Eighteenth Edition

2. Caveat
This is a general instructional tool for RSG students and is intended to provide a “simple” introduction to The Bluebook (18th ed.), which is the current style manual for lawyers and law students. Be aware that this omits many elements of Bluebook, which is covered much more in depth in the first year of law school.

3. The purpose of citation...
...is ATTRIBUTION and SUPPORT.

4. Citation in Legal Writing
Attribution: A citation identifies the source of ideas, quotes, and referenced materials. “Provide attribution for all sources—whether legal or factual—outside your own reasoning process.”
Support: A citation directs “the reader to a specific legal or factual authority that provides support for, or is otherwise relevant to, a proposition stated in the text.”

5. Two Methods of Placing Citations: Textual and Footnotes
“Textual” citations, that is, citations within the text, are normal and customary for legal briefs and memoranda. They are not permitted for law review articles or papers submitted for the Robertson School of Government (citations must be footnoted, with the footnotes appearing after the final punctuation of the quoted/supported phrase or sentence).

6. Italics or Underlining?
Often a jurisdiction or school will prefer either underlining or using italics. In the Robertson School of Government, you must use italics. Assuming you have the freedom to choose either italics or underlining, choose one of the other and be consistent.
Romer v. Evans = Romer v. Evans

7. Elements of a Citation (1) The source or authority
(2) Parenthetical information

8. Truly the Basics - Cases
Like other citation styles, a Bluebook citation is in sentence form. For cases, the general format is case name (last name of first person listed as plaintiff and defendant, or name of corporation or agency), where case is found (vol. number, reporter, and page number), and then (year of decision).
Example: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

9. Truly the Basics – Statutes I
Although congressional statutes often have names, and when passed are inserted into the Statute book, by far the most popular cite for federal statutes is the U.S. Code (U.S.C.) which organizes federal statutes according to subject matter (our nation’s food and drug laws are all compiled in Title 21 of the U.S. Code for instance).

10. Truly the Basics – Statutes II
An example of a full federal statute is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ (2000).
Or simply: 42 U.S.C. §§ (2000).
*Note that nothing is italicized in a statute citation. “Section” is indicated by the “§” symbol, the plural of which is “§§.” To find this symbol, go to “Insert,” then choose “Symbol.” The section sign is one that comes immediately after the basic Latin alphabet.*

11. Truly the Basics – Books
For books, the format is Author’s name, Title of Book, page number where supportive material is found, and year of publication. Example: Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order 207 (2003).
If there are multiple authors, separate their names with commas and place an ampersand before the last’s name.

12. Truly the Basics - Articles
Articles are like books with two additions: Title of Article Is in Italics (Title of Periodical Is Normal Font), and page number where article begins. Example: Rebecca L. Brown, Separated Powers and Ordered Liberty, 139 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1513, 1517 (1991). Example with multiple authors: Steven G. Calabresi & Kevin H. Rhodes, The Structural Constitution: Unitary Executive, Plural Judiciary, 105 Harv. L. Rev. 1155, 1158 (1992).

13. Truly the Basics – Precision I
Lawyers are more precise (maybe because they are more suspicious) than other scholars. Therefore, there is considerably more emphasis placed on supporting each assertion, and pinpointing the exact location of the support (e.g., note how you must put the page where the support is found, whereas for APA all you need is the book).

14. Truly the Basics – Precision II
Example: Courts include prayer within the protection of the First Amendment. 27
27 DeBoer v. Village of Oak Park, 267 F. 3d 558, (7th Cir. 2001) (“private religious speech, far from being a First Amendment orphan, is as fully protected under the Free Speech Clause as secular private expression”).

15. Digging Deeper – Federal System and Reporters I
The federal judiciary system is comprised of three levels: district courts (which handle the cases and trials initially), the appellate courts (to which parties that lost in the district court can appeal alleged errors), and the U.S. Supreme Court (to which parties that lost in the appellate court can appeal alleged errors).

16. Digging Deeper – Federal System and Reporters II
The U.S. is split geographically into 11 Circuit Courts of Appeals (see map at (Virginia is in the 4th Circuit)
Each state has one or more District Courts. Virginia has two – Eastern District and Western District (abbreviated E.D.Va. and W.D.Va.) (click on state in map cited above)

17. Digging Deeper – Federal System and Reporters III
Each federal level has its own reporter system. The official reporter for the USSC is the U.S. Reports (abbreviated U.S.). For the Courts of Appeal, it is the Federal Reporter (abbreviated F.), which is now in its third series (F.3d). For district courts, it is Federal Supplement (F.Supp.), which is now in its second series (F.Supp.2d).

18. Digging Deeper – State System and Reporters
Similarly, each state typically has three levels: Trial court (sometimes called district courts), appellate courts, and a Supreme Court. The appellate and Supreme Courts in each state typically have there own official reporters – Virginia Court of Appeals (___ Va. App. ___) and Virginia Supreme Court (___ Va. ___).

19. Digging Deeper – Examples
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
DeBoer v. Village of Oak Park, 267 F. 3d 558, (7th Cir. 2001).
Minelli v. Frank B. Hall & Co., 898 F. Supp. 615 (N.D. Ill. 1995)
People ex rel. Hansen v. Phelan, 158 Ill. 2d 445 (1994)
Evangelical Hospital Assn. v. Novak, 125 Ill. App. 3d 439 (2nd Dist. 1984).
Again, cite the specific page for quotes or support after citing the first page, as shown in DeBoer.

20. Digging Deeper – Caution Regarding Lower Court Cases
Decisions below the U.S. Supreme Court can, of course, be appealed. If you cite a lower court decision, you must also include any subsequent history [either affirmed (aff’d) or reversed (rev’d)] Example: DeBoer v. Village of Oak Park, 86 F.Supp.2d 804 (N.D. Ill. 1999); rev’d 267 F.3d 558 (7th Cir. 2001).
I suspect that in my two courses citing lower court decisions will be rare.

21. Digging Deeper – State Statutes
Similar to the distinction between federal and state courts is the distinction between Congress and the state legislatures. For state statutes, cite an official code whenever possible. Full citation to most state codes includes (1) the abbreviated name of the code; (2) the cited section or chapter number(s); and (3) the year of the cited code edition (not the year the act was passed).
-Fla. Stat. ch (2000).
-Cal. Fin. Code § 500 (West 2000).

22. Short Form Citations I
For all sources, once you have provided one full citation to an authority, you can use a “short form” in later citations to the same authority, so long as it is unambiguous and leads the reader easily to the full citation.
Id. (short for Ibid., aren’t lawyers concise and clever?). Use “Id.” when citing again the same source and page as you cited immediately before.
Id. at 100 (or, Id. at § 6). Use this short form if only the page (or section) of the source has changed from the immediately preceding cite.

23. Short Form Citations II
A short form citation can still be used if “Id.” is inappropriate (i.e., there is an interruption in use of the same source).
For cases, use the name of the plaintiff, the vol. of the reporter, and the page number. Example: The short form of the DeBoer case in slide 24 is DeBoer, 267 F.3d at 565.

24. Short Form Citations III
For books and periodicals (but not cases, statutes, constitutions, etc.), the proper short citation for a previously cited source is the author’s last name, the term “supra,” the footnote where the full cite is found, and the page number. The short form for Russell Kirk’s book noted in Slide 11 (assuming it was found in footnote 13) is: Kirk, supra note 13, at 201.

25. Exceptions to the Rule I
The general rule for citing books is found in Slide 11, supra. Where the book is part of a multi-volume series, put the number of the volume before the author’s name. Example:
21 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller,
Federal Practice and Procedure § 1006 (2d ed.
1987).
Where there is no author, start with the title. Example: Black’s Law Dictionary 712 (7th ed. 1999).

26. Exceptions to the Rule II
The general rule for citing articles is found in Slide 12, supra. Sometimes a law review will not have a volume number. In such cases, use the year of publication. Example: Steven J. Rollins, Perceived Handicap Under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, 1988 Wis. L. Rev. 639.
If written by a student, include after the author’s name either “Note” or “Comment” as provided at the beginning of the article. Example: Thomas J. Mahoney, Jr., Note, The Tax Benefit Rule After Hillsboro, 37 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 362 (1986).

27. Electronic Media: Internet I
Caveat
When information is available in a traditional printed source or on a widely available commercial database, cite that source rather than to the Internet. An Internet citation should only be provided when (1) the source is unavailable in a traditional printed format or on a widely available database; or (2) the source is available in a traditional printed format, but the content of the Internet source is identical to that of the printed version and a parallel citation to the Internet will substantially improve access to the source cited.

28. Electronic Media: Internet II
General Principles:
Author, Organization, and Title (if any are provided)
URL (preceded by available at)
Page and date (if any of these)
(date when last visited)
Example: Heidi Goldberg, Ctr. On Budget & Policy, Priorities, State and County Supported Car Ownership Programs Can Help Low Income Families Secure and Keep Jobs 1 (2001), available at (last visited Aug. 20, 2007).

29. Formatting Papers for Con Law & Policy Class I
Use letter size paper (8.5” x 11”).
One inch margin on all sides, not justified on right.
Times New Roman 12 Point Font for everything but title (14 Point) and footnotes (10 Point).
Center and single space title in 14 Point Times New Roman on top of first page, then two lines below center your name in 12 Point font preceded by “By.” Two lines below your name start text on left margin. Indent first line of each paragraph.

30. Formatting Papers II
Title, footnotes and block quotes are single spaced, everything else is double spaced.
Center page numbers on the bottom of each page in the footer (no number on 1st page).
Block quote (indent left and right margins, single space and no quotation marks) all quotes 50 or more words.

31. Formatting Papers III
Use an ellipse ( ) when omitting words from a quote. Do not begin a quote with an ellipse, and do not end with one.
If you start a quote in the middle of a sentence and grammar protocol requires a capital letter, put a bracket around the first letter of the first word and capitalize it.
Example: The court said, “[T]his relief must be denied on the grounds of equity.”

32. Great Source!
Cornell Law School has a wonderful website called the Legal Information Institute (
This excellent source has the U.S. Code, the Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals cases
It also has a link to an Introduction to Bluebook with many examples