AMST 3055: Religion and the Supreme Court

Note: Chicago Manual of Style does not provide detailed instructions for citing particular pieces of the judicial process beyond cases. Therefore we are providing guidance that will be useful for this class in particular but not necessarily standard in the legal profession.

Citing Supreme Court Cases

The "reporter" is the name of the journal that publishes complete judicial opinions when the case is decided. There are many "reporters" that publish opinions but the official reporter of record is the "U.S. Reporter" abbreviated as "U.S.". This general format applies to lower court published opinions as well.

The format is Party 1 v. Party 2, volume# Reporter Name (abbrev.) first page #, exact page# referred to (year).

Long form note example: Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm'n, 558 U.S. 310, 322 (2010).

Shortened note for additional references: Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 322.

Citing Supreme Court Slip Opinions

The U.S. Reporter is years behind on publishing official records of Supreme Court Cases. If the database offers you a "slip opinion" instead, use the available information about the future U.S. Reporter volume as well as the Docket Number on the document. Format the citation like this:

Long Example: Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. ____ (2023) (slip op. No. 22–174, at [your desired page number]).

Shortened: Groff, 600 U.S. at [page].

Citing Dissenting or Concurring Opinions

The dissenting and concurring opinions can be found within the published opinion. You should use the above style, plus use the page number for that dissent or concurring opinion, and then a parenthetical describing the justice and their opinion, as shown in this example:

Example: Parker v. Randolph, 442 U.S. 62, 84 (1979) (Stevens, J., dissenting). 

Citing Amicus Curiae Briefs

The Amicus Curiae briefs in the Supreme Court Insights database are provided as separate documents from the main court case. Use the main case information as well as the particular page number within the brief to help you cite the specific source you are quoting or referring to. In the example below, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed the amicus curiae brief, and the opinion for the case "Wilko v. Swan" was published in the United States Reports, volume 346, beginning on page 427. The case was decided in 1953. 

Example citation: Brief for the SEC as Amicus Curiae, p. 19, Wilko v. Swan, 346 U.S. 427 (1953). 

These tools allow you to gather citations and PDFs in one place and then quickly create a reference list and/or bibliography. It is best to install these tools at the start of your research.