Supreme Court 101

Reading Citations

There are a few different ways you might see previous decisions, opinions, books, articles, etc. cited in Supreme Court Opinions. This is a guide to what they all mean, and refer to.

Packwood v. Senate Select Comm. on Ethics, 510 U. S. 1319, 1320 (1994)

This refers to a previous Supreme Court case. After the petitioner and respondents' names follows the case designation. The first number is the volume of "United States Reports" in which the case appears. Then "U. S." which is the accepted abbreviation for the Reporter. Next is the page on which the opinion begins. If there is a number after this (1320 in this example), that is the page number on which the quotation being cited can be found. Finally, in parentheses, is the year in which the case was decided.

Trump v. CASA, Inc., 606 U. S. ___, ___ (2025) (slip op., at 19)

This refers to a previously decided case, but one which has not yet been published in "United States Reports" yet. The expected volume is shown, as it will be the next in the sequence, but depending on formatting, the page numbers are not yet known. As a placeholder, however, "slip op., at 19" is given. The "Slip Opinion" is the version that is issued when the ruling is announced, and the same as that posted on the Supreme Court's website. And the number is the page number on which the quotation being cited can be found, as before.

688 F. Supp. 3d 265, 272 (Md. 2023)

Ante, at 23.

See §3402.

Exec. Order No. 14242, 90 Fed. Reg. 13679 (2025)

Id., at 64

Ibid.

20 U. S. C. §§1094, 1099c, 1099c–1

5 U. S. C. §§7105(a)(2), 7512, 7513(d), 7701

ECF Doc. 124–1, p. 6.

U. S. Const., Art. II, §3

Application to Stay Injunction 8, 25–26

See supra, at 12–13, and n. 14.

infra, at 7.