18. Slip Opinions, Neutral Citations, and Separate Writings

18.1 Choose the version you actually used

An opinion may move from an initial slip release to a corrected release, preliminary print, and bound reporter. Page numbers can change. Save the publication stage and the date obtained. Before final filing, check whether the opinion has a newer authoritative version and whether your locator still reaches the same text. Replacing the identifier without checking the passage can create a plausible but wrong citation.

For Supreme Court materials, the Court's opinions page explains its publication sequence and distinguishes opinions from other releases. Use that collection to locate the issuing document; use the actual document to verify the passage. Supreme Court opinions.

18.2 Use assigned paragraph numbers

A neutral or public-domain citation can identify a decision independently of a printed reporter. Preserve its year, court designator, sequential or docket component, and any suffix. Use assigned paragraph numbers when the governing rule calls for them. A browser's line number, an OCR paragraph count, or a researcher's own numbering is not an official paragraph locator.

Fictional editing example. A source packet contains a court-assigned identifier and numbered paragraphs, while the draft cites PDF page 11. If the receiving rule requires paragraph locators, locate the quoted language in the assigned paragraph and change the reference accordingly. Do not estimate the paragraph from the page position.

18.3 Attribute the right writing

The case name may identify a collection containing a majority opinion, concurrence, dissent, syllabus, and orders. Identify the particular writing you use. Where the proposition comes from a separate writing, state the author's role in a parenthetical or the accompanying sentence. A concurrence in the judgment can agree with the result without adopting the lead opinion's reasoning.

A plurality requires special care. Identify which portions attracted which votes before describing a proposition as the Court's holding. Citation format cannot resolve the doctrinal question of what rule a fragmented decision establishes. Keep the vote and opinion structure in the research note and analyze the applicable precedent method separately.

18.4 Preserve amendment and supersession information

Search the issuing court's docket or opinion collection for amended, withdrawn, substituted, or superseding decisions. When the language has changed, compare the exact passage rather than assuming the correction was typographical. If the old text is itself relevant to a historical account, identify it as the earlier version and explain why you are using it.

18.5 Do not turn a syllabus into judicial reasoning

Use a syllabus, headnote, or summary to navigate to the opinion. If your claim concerns the court's reasoning, locate the judicial text and cite that passage. If the subject is the publisher's summary itself, identify the summary as your source. This distinction matters even when the summary accurately describes the outcome: the writer should not attribute editorial wording to a judge.