bluebook

# Bluebook 21st Edition Citation

Citation formatting for law reviews and legal scholarship per *The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation* (21st ed. 2020).

**Announce:** "I'm using the bluebook skill for citation formatting."

## When to Use

Invoke this skill for:
- Formatting case citations (federal, state, foreign)
- Statutory and regulatory citations
- Secondary sources (books, articles, treatises)
- Short form citations (id., supra, hereinafter)
- Introductory signals and parentheticals
- Citation sentences vs. citation clauses

**For legal writing style**: Use `/writing-legal` skill (Volokh)
**For general writing**: Use `/writing` skill (Strunk & White)

<EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT>
## IRON LAW #1: NO CITATION WITHOUT VERIFICATION

**If you haven't verified EVERY element of a citation, DO NOT write it.**

Before writing ANY citation:
1. Verify case name spelling and procedural posture
2. Verify reporter volume and page numbers
3. Verify court and year
4. Verify pinpoint page exists

**Guessing reporter volumes or page numbers is LYING. Period.**
</EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT>

<EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT>
## IRON LAW #2: NO SHORT FORMS WITHOUT FULL CITATION FIRST

**Id., supra, and hereinafter REQUIRE a preceding full citation.**

Before using ANY short form:
1. Locate the full citation in the document
2. Verify no intervening citations (for id.)
3. Verify the supra reference is unambiguous

**Using id. after intervening citations creates ambiguity. Delete and cite in full.**
</EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT>

<EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT>
## IRON LAW #3: FOOTNOTE VS. TEXT CITATION FORMAT

**Law review citations use footnote format (Rule 1). Court documents use text format (Bluepages).**

```
FOOTNOTE (law reviews):    Smith v. Jones, 500 U.S. 1, 5 (1991).
TEXT (court documents):    Smith v. Jones, 500 U.S. 1, 5 (1991)

FOOTNOTE (statutes):       18 U.S.C. § 1001 (2018).
TEXT (statutes):           18 U.S.C. § 1001 (2018)
```

**If writing for a law review and using text format conventions, DELETE