Is there a space after the § symbol?
Is it 28 U.S.C. §1332 or 28 U.S.C. § 1332? What about two section signs, a subsection, or a citation that breaks at the end of a line? And does anyone mind if you close the space up to stay under a word limit?
If your court's rules or your journal's style sheet say something about this, reply below with the wording.
The team’s answer
Short answer. Yes. Put a single space between the section sign and the number:
28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1) (2024).
Two signs for more than one section, with the same single space:
42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 (2024).
The rules
[Convention] A single space follows § or §§. A free public-domain citation manual sets it that way, and its commentary calls the space traditional.
[Convention] No space between the section number and its first subsection: 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1), not 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (a)(1). Copy the subsection labels exactly as the code prints them.
[House style] For a run of sections whose numbers already contain hyphens, "to" reads more clearly than a dash, as in the 2000e example above. The same free manual allows a hyphen, an en dash or "to."
[Convention] Rules of procedure and evidence are cited by rule number alone, without §, as in Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), unless your jurisdiction's own form uses the sign.
[House style] Make the space a non-breaking one, so that "§" never ends one line while "1332" starts the next.
Why you see the sign closed up so often
The official Code's own section headings close the space. On govinfo, the 2024 edition heads 28 U.S.C. § 1332 as "§1332. Diversity of citizenship; amount in controversy; costs". That is the Code's typography for a heading, not a citation form, so don't copy it into a brief.
Others close the space on purpose, to save words.
Closing it up to meet a word limit
[Jurisdiction-specific] The Colorado Court of Appeals put this in writing in a Policy on Citations dated Nov. 13, 2025. Parties may not delete or underline spaces, or adjust citation spacing in any other way, to bring a brief's word count down, and a brief that ignores the policy can be struck. The policy itself keeps the space in the statute citation it gives.
[Unresolved] Outside rules like Colorado's, practice differs. The free public-domain manual's commentary suggests that closing the space may be an acceptable shortcut for writers under word-count pressure, and calls its own suggestion potentially controversial. Read your court's rules before you try it.
Common mistakes
"28 U.S.C. §1332" or "28 U.S.C. 1332" in a brief following the national form.
"28 U.S.C. § 1332 (a)(1)", with a stray space before the subsection.
"28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1), § 1332(c)(1)" for two subsections of one section: one sign covers both, as in 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1), (c)(1) (2024).
A section sign in front of a rule number.
Read more
Real U.S. Code citations, element by element: https://citationcode.com/examples/how-to-cite-a-federal-statute (opens in a new tab)
The Statutes chapter (its opening is free to read): https://citationcode.com/book/statutes (opens in a new tab)