Anatomy of a case citation
Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)
- Case name
- "Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly." The parties, abbreviated per the style manual, italicized or underscored.
- Volume
- "550." The reporter volume. Volumes map to date ranges, which is one way fabricated cites betray themselves.
- Reporter
- "U.S." The book series. United States Reports here; the official reporter when one exists.
- First page
- "544." Where the opinion begins in that volume.
- Pincite
- "570." The exact page supporting your point. The most checked and most often wrong element.
- Court and year
- "(2007)." Year alone means the Supreme Court for U.S. Reports; other reporters put the deciding court in the parenthetical, e.g. (2d Cir. 2024).
The federal reporters at a glance
| Court level | Reporter | Current series | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court | United States Reports (official) | U.S. | Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) |
| Supreme Court (parallel) | Supreme Court Reporter | S. Ct. | Used while the official U.S. cite is pending. |
| Courts of Appeals | Federal Reporter | F.4th (previously F.3d, F.2d, F.) | Park v. Kim, 91 F.4th 610 (2d Cir. 2024) |
| District Courts | Federal Supplement | F. Supp. 3d | Mata v. Avianca, Inc., 678 F. Supp. 3d 443 (S.D.N.Y. 2023) |
| District Courts (rules) | Federal Rules Decisions | F.R.D. | Decisions primarily construing the federal rules. |
Short forms: id., supra, and name shortening
Id. at 678.
Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555.
Wright & Miller, supra, § 1357.
What each signal actually asserts
Signals are substantive claims about how strongly the authority supports your proposition. Using a bare cite where see belongs overstates your support, and careful readers treat signal inflation as a credibility problem.
- No signal
- The authority directly states the proposition, or is the source of a quotation. The strongest claim you can make.
- See
- The authority clearly supports the proposition, but an inferential step is required to get there.
- See also
- Additional supporting authority beyond what was already cited.
- Cf.
- The authority supports by analogy. Explaining the analogy in a parenthetical is expected.
- Compare ... with ...
- The comparison of the cited authorities itself supports or illuminates the proposition.
- But see
- The authority clearly cuts against your proposition. Candor sometimes requires it.
- See generally
- Helpful background, not direct support.
State conventions vary: one example
State courts often have their own citation manuals, and the differences are visible at a glance. New York's official style, for instance, puts the year in brackets and uses its own reporter abbreviations:
People v Bing, 76 NY2d 331, 338 [1990]
Filing Bluebook format in a court that follows a state manual is rarely fatal, but matching the court's own convention is one of those quiet signals that the brief was written by someone who practices there.
Format is the surface; substance is the risk
Format errors cost credibility. Substance errors cost cases: a fabricated cite, a misquote, a pincite that does not support the point, or authority that has been overruled. Format checkers catch the first category. The second category requires opening the source, which is the part that consumes hours.
CiteScreen works on the substance: every citation in an uploaded brief is verified against its source, with quotes compared word for word and pincites checked against the cited page. Format is the easy part once you know the case is real and says what you claim.
Frequently asked questions
In federal briefs, use the reporters above. In state courts, follow that state’s rule: many require the official reporter where one exists, some accept regional reporters, and local rules control. When in doubt, match the format the court itself uses in its opinions.
Reporter series change (F.3d became F.4th in 2021), courts adopt public-domain citation formats, and style manuals update. The safest habit is checking the current local rules of the specific court for each filing.
No, and that is the trap. AI-fabricated citations are usually formatted flawlessly. Format tells you nothing about existence, accuracy, or current validity; only pulling the source verifies those.