How to read a case citation

If you've ever seen a phrase like Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) and wondered what all the parts mean, this lesson is for you. Citations are how lawyers point to specific cases in legal writing: and they encode a lot of information in a small amount of space.

Once you know how to read them, you can quickly identify which court decided a case, when, and where to find the full opinion. That's not just lawyer skill: it's a skill any pro se litigant or curious person can learn in a few minutes.

The basic structure

Almost every case citation has the same five parts, in this order:

The case name: usually two parties separated by "v." (for "versus")
The volume number: a number identifying which book in a series
The reporter abbreviation: short for the publication that contains the opinion
The starting page number: what page the opinion starts on in that volume
The year (and sometimes court): in parentheses

Look at Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954):

Case name: Brown v. Board of Education
Volume: 347
Reporter: U.S. (United States Reports: the official Supreme Court reporter)
Page: 483
Year: 1954

That tells you: this is a U.S. Supreme Court decision from 1954. To find the full opinion in a law library, you'd pull volume 347 of the United States Reports and turn to page 483.

Case names

Case names follow conventions:

Civil cases name the plaintiff first and the defendant second: Smith v. Jones means Smith sued Jones.
Criminal cases name the government first and the defendant second: United States v. Williams or People v. Garcia or State v. Lee. The prosecution is always first.
Appeals sometimes flip the names. If Jones won at trial and Smith appealed, the appeal might be styled Jones v. Smith in some courts (the appellant first) or kept as Smith v. Jones (the original case caption).
In re ("in the matter of") is used for cases that don't have two adversarial parties: bankruptcy, probate, juvenile, some other categories. Example: In re Estate of Williams.

Italics or underline the case name in formal writing.

Reporters

The "reporter" is the publication that contains the opinion. Different courts have different reporters.

Federal reporters:

U.S.: United States Reports: the official reporter of U.S. Supreme Court opinions
S. Ct.: Supreme Court Reporter: an unofficial commercial publication of Supreme Court opinions, with the same content but different page numbers
L. Ed.: Lawyers' Edition: another unofficial Supreme Court reporter
F.3d, F.4th: Federal Reporter: opinions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals
F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, F. Supp. 3d: Federal Supplement: opinions of the U.S. District Courts

State reporters vary by state, but common patterns include:

Cal. Rptr., Cal. App.: California
N.Y.S., N.Y.2d: New York
S.W.2d, S.W.3d: South Western Reporter (covers TX, MO, AR, KY, TN)
N.E.2d, N.E.3d: North Eastern Reporter (covers IL, IN, MA, NY, OH)
A.2d, A.3d: Atlantic Reporter (covers CT, DE, ME, MD, NH, NJ, PA, RI, VT, DC)

The "2d," "3d," "4th" suffixes are series numbers. When a reporter fills up to a certain volume, the publisher starts a new series. F.3d is the third series of the Federal Reporter, F.4th started in 2021.

Year and court

In parentheses at the end:

For Supreme Court cases, just the year: (1954)
For Court of Appeals cases, the Circuit number and year: (2d Cir. 1989) means the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1989
For district court cases, the district and year: (S.D.N.Y. 1995) means the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1995
For state cases, the court abbreviation and year if needed: (Cal. 1987) or (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)

The court isn't repeated when it's already obvious from the reporter (e.g., Supreme Court opinions in U.S. or S. Ct.).

Worked examples

Here's how to parse some real citations:

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) - Plaintiff Roe sued defendant Wade - Volume 410 of U.S. Reports - Opinion starts on page 113 - Decided in 1973 - It's in U.S. Reports, so it's a U.S. Supreme Court case

Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) - Same structure - Supreme Court, 1966

United States v. Microsoft Corp., 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001) - Government prosecuted Microsoft Corp - Volume 253 of the Federal Reporter, third series - Page 34 - Decided in the D.C. Circuit (the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit) in 2001

Twombly v. Bell Atlantic Corp., 425 F. Supp. 2d 1027 (S.D.N.Y. 2006) - Plaintiff Twombly sued Bell Atlantic - Volume 425 of Federal Supplement, second series - Page 1027 - U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2006

Pinpoint citations

Often, citations include specific page references when quoting or referring to a particular point in the opinion. Two common formats:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 495 (1954): the opinion starts at page 483, but the cited point is at page 495.

Brown, 347 U.S. at 495: short form, after the case has been cited in full once already.

These are called "pinpoint cites" or "pin cites." When you see a pinpoint cite, the writer is pointing you to specific language at that page.

Parallel citations

Some cases are reported in multiple places. A "parallel citation" gives you all of them:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954)

This tells you the case appears in U.S. Reports at 347 U.S. 483, in Supreme Court Reporter at 74 S. Ct. 686, and in Lawyers' Edition at 98 L. Ed. 873. The content is the same; the page numbers differ because each reporter paginates independently.

You don't have to use parallel citations everywhere: most modern court rules require them only in the first citation to a case. After that, just one reporter is fine.

Online citations

Many recent opinions get cited with database identifiers:

2023 WL 1234567: Westlaw citation
2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12345: Lexis citation

These work like reporter citations but reference the proprietary database instead of a printed book. The opinion's reasoning is the same; the citation just tells you where to find it digitally.

For unpublished opinions or very recent decisions that haven't yet appeared in printed reporters, these database citations are often the only option.

Why all this matters

Even if you're never going to argue a case before the Supreme Court, knowing how to read citations helps you:

Find sources. When you read about a case in a news story or a textbook, the citation tells you exactly where to find the full opinion to read for yourself.
Evaluate authority. A 2023 Supreme Court decision is more authoritative than a 1985 district court decision. You can spot the difference at a glance once you know the conventions.
Read other people's writing. Articles, briefs, and books are full of citations. Knowing how to skim them quickly speeds up reading.
Write your own filings. If you're a pro se litigant, you may need to cite cases. Knowing the conventions makes your filings look professional and easier for the court to follow.

Where to find opinions

For finding actual case opinions:

CourtListener (free): millions of opinions, searchable, free to read
Justia (free): selected opinions, with annotations
Google Scholar: search "Google Scholar": has a legal opinions tab with millions of cases
Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law: paid services with comprehensive databases
Local law libraries: most have free public access to legal databases

For pro se litigants and ordinary curious people, the free options are usually plenty.

This lesson is research and educational information, not legal advice. Citation formats vary by jurisdiction and court rules. If you're filing in a specific court, check that court's local rules for the required citation format.