Cases
Name the case, point to the passage, show the court—and know whether you may cite it.
A case citation does two jobs at once. It labels an opinion so your reader knows which court spoke and when, and it addresses one passage so your reader can check it. Below are the same jobs done two ways: a Supreme Court decision found by volume and page, and an Illinois decision found by the number the court gave it.
A reported case, pinpointed to the page you rely on
Loper Bright Enters. v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369, 412 (2024).
- 1 case name: first party on each side, shortened
- 2 volume
- 3 reporter
- 4 first page
- 5 court: none needed, since U.S. can only be the Supreme Court
- 6 year decided
- 7 pinpoint: the page you rely on
A court-numbered case, pinpointed by paragraph
People v. Buffer, 2019 IL 122327, ¶ 41.
- 8 year and court: 2019, Supreme Court of Illinois
- 9 opinion number, taken from the docket
- 10 paragraph pinpoint; no parenthetical, because the number already shows court and year
14.1Reading a case citation
In the print and Kindle editions
14.2Citation forms, court by court
In the print and Kindle editions
14.3The court-and-year parenthetical
In the print and Kindle editions
14.4Case names
In the print and Kindle editions
14.5Reporters, pages and parallel citations
In the print and Kindle editions
14.6Court-numbered (public-domain) citations
In the print and Kindle editions
14.7Unreported opinions, slip opinions and pending cases
In the print and Kindle editions
14.8Later and earlier history
In the print and Kindle editions
14.9Opinion-type and explanatory parentheticals
In the print and Kindle editions
14.10May you cite it? How much does it count?
In the print and Kindle editions
14.11When the receiving court has its own rules
In the print and Kindle editions
14.12Check the case exists—and says it
In the print and Kindle editions
14.13Short forms
In the print and Kindle editions
14.14Errors to catch
In the print and Kindle editions