Federal district court citation
As we discussed
earlier, lawsuits begin in the
federal district court. A published decision from a federal district court is assigned an
official case citation. A case citation might look something like this:
Smith v. Jones, 100
F.Supp. 10 (E.D.Tenn. 1998)
What does this case citation tell us?
-
The name of the plaintiff:
Smith.
-
The name of the defendant:
Jones.
-
The book in which the case can be found:
Federal
Supplement (all published federal district court decisions are in the Federal
Supplement -- so you know this is a district court opinion as opposed to court of appeals
or Supreme Court).
-
The volume of the
Federal Supplement:
100.
-
The page number on which the case starts:
10.
-
The court which wrote the opinion:
Eastern
District of Tennessee.
-
The year the opinion was written:
1998.
Federal court of appeals
citation
Let's assume Jones lost this imaginary case. If
he appeals, we now know it would go to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals because the case
originated in a federal district court in Tennessee. If the Sixth Circuit issues a
decision which becomes a published opinion, it might look something like this:
Smith v. Jones, 250 F.3d 25 (6th Cir. 1999)
What does this case citation tell us?
-
The name of the appellant: Actually it
does not. Since either side can appeal, we do not know whether the appellant is Smith or
Jones until we read the opinion.
-
The book in which the case can be found:
F.3d
-- which means West's Federal Reporter (3rd Series).
-
We know the opinion is from the court of
appeals because: (1) only federal court of appeals decisions are found in West's
Federal
Reporter (3rd Series); and (2) "6th Cir." refers to the Sixth Circuit Court
of Appeals.
-
The volume number of the
Federal Reporter
(Third Series): 250.
-
The page number on which the opinion
begins: 25.
-
The court which wrote the opinion:
6th
Cir. (Sixth Circuit).
-
The year the opinion was issued:
1999.
U.S.
Supreme Court citation
Let's assume the Sixth Circuit affirms the
decision of the district court (meaning the Sixth Circuit finds no error by the district
court and therefore Jones is still the loser). Jones can now ask (or more properly,
petition)
the Supreme Court to hear the case. If the Supreme Court agrees and the case is heard, the
published opinion might look something like this:
Jones v. Smith, 150 S.Ct. 100 (2000)
What does this case citation tell us:
-
The name of the petitioner:
Jones (unlike
the court of appeals, you know which party asked that the Supreme Court hear the case just
by looking for which name is first in the case citation).
-
The name of the respondent:
Smith.
-
The set of books in which this opinion can be
found: S.Ct. -- which means West's Supreme Court Reporter.
-
The volume of the
Supreme Court Reporter
which contains this opinion: 150.
-
The page number on which this opinion
begins: 100.
-
The court which wrote the opinion: We
know that the United States Supreme Court wrote this opinion because only Supreme Court
opinions are in West's Supreme Court Reporter.
-
The year the opinion was issued:
2000.
Federal case law comes from these published
opinions issued mainly by the federal district court, the federal court of appeals or the
U.S. Supreme Court.
