Can you help me cite a case that is waiting to be decided on by the U.S. Supreme Court? I think it is called a Writ of Certiorari.

The case is Maryland v. King. I found the information regarding the courts decision on granting a writ of certiorari by I don't know how to cite it in my paper. The website is http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5554209418319558298&q=MARYLAND+V.+KING&hl=en&as_sdt=2,14&as_vis=1 . Thank you.

Answer

APA defers to the "Bluebook," a popular legal citation style when citing legal cases. The format for citing a case follows this format:

Reference list citation for a U.S. Supreme Court Decision:

Name v. Name, Volume Source Page (Date).

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

In-Text citation:

Name v. Name (Date)

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

 

Understanding the meaning of "Writ of Certiorari" can be helpful when trying to determine how to cite a case waiting to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Understanding the process involved in bringing a case before the U.S. Supreme Court is also helpful.

The U.S. Supreme Court has the right to accept or deny cases. Parties wishing to have the Supreme Court rule on a case can petition the court through a Writ of Certiorari. A writ is an order from a higher court to a lower court, and the writ of certiorari is an order to send all documents associated with a case to the higher court. Because the U.S. Supreme Court can be very selective about the cases they will hear, they either grant the writ (meaning they will hear the case) or deny it. This is recorded in the U.S. Reporter, the official reporter of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other commercial reporters such as U.S. Supreme Court Reporter and Lawyers Edition 2d.

Using FastCase, a legal database available through the Online Library, to find the case is one way to find the needed information to create a citation. You can access FastCase by clicking on the Resources link in any online class, then clicking on the link Search e-Resources.  Scroll through the alphabetical list of databases until you find FastCase.

FastCase defaults to "Quick Caselaw Search."  Type the name of the case in the textbox at the top of the page and click Search.

Type the name of the case, e.g. Maryland v. King, in the search box in Fastcase

King v. Maryland appears on the results page.  Note that the first entry is the actual opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Click on the title of the case to view the opinion in full text.

Once you see which result is the Supreme Court decision, click it to see the full opinion.

Once the opinion is displayed, view the panel on the left side of the page to see other cases with the same or similar case names.  In this example, there are three "Maryland v. King" cases.

Look on the left side of the page to see other cases with similar names.

Click on the titles of each of these cases to read the ruling of the court.  Also, ensure that case names are identical!

The third case is where the "cert. granted" is recorded.  The citation information needed to create the APA citation is available here.

Find the information for your citation on the case where "cert. grant" is recorded.

  • Last Updated Mar 26, 2024
  • Views 15754
  • Answered By Suzanne Schriefer, Librarian

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Comments (1)

  1. Where is the answer to the simple question, how do you cite a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari that has neither been granted or denied?
    by M Smith on Jan 31, 2019

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