PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Federal court case

How to Cite a Federal Court Case in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a federal court case gives the case name (not italicized), the volume, the reporter abbreviation (F., F.2d, F.3d, or F.4th for the U.S. Courts of Appeals; F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, or F. Supp. 3d for the district courts), the first page, the court and the year together in parentheses, like (9th Cir. 2002), and a URL when one is available. If the decision was appealed, add the appeal after a comma. In the text, italicize the case name and add the year: (Conant v. Walters, 2002).

The format

Name v. Name, Volume Reporter Page (Court Year). URL

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 22, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Already have the case citation from your reading, like Conant v. Walters, 309 F.3d 629 (9th Cir. 2002)? Paste it into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA reads the reporter to tell a circuit case from a district case, fills in the case name, volume, page, court, and year, and puts the court in its standard abbreviation. When it finds the case on CourtListener, a free case-law site, it adds a link to the opinion. Check the case name, the court, and the year against the opinion before you move on. Paste one decision at a time: a citation with an appeal, with aff'd or rev'd in it, goes in by hand.

Adding one by hand? Choose US Federal Court Cases (under Legal References), then the type:

  • U.S. Circuit Court case: pick the Federal Reporter Series (first, second, third, or fourth) and type the Circuit Number, like 9th. PERRLA turns 2nd into 2d and 3rd into 3d for you.
  • U.S. District Court case: pick the Federal Supplement Series and type the Court District Name. PERRLA recognizes the full name too, so Eastern District of Pennsylvania becomes E.D. Pa.
  • U.S. District Court case with an appeal: choose Decision was affirmed in the appeal or Decision was overturned in the appeal, then fill in the Appeal Information. PERRLA adds aff'd or rev'd and puts both years in your in-text citation.

For a case in the Federal Appendix, choose it under Where was the case published? For a decision that's only on Westlaw or Lexis, leave the volume and page empty and fill in the Unreported Case section.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Case name

Start with the case name, with v. between the parties. It's plain text in the reference: no italics.

Hopwood v. Texas

Shorten the caption the way legal citations do. Keep the first party on each side, and drop et al., a leading "The," and "State of" or "Commonwealth of" before a state's name. The district court's caption names four plaintiffs and starts its long list of defendants with "The State of Texas," and the case is cited as Hopwood v. Texas. Keep the parties' names as the court printed them, even when the wording is dated.

2. Volume and reporter

After a comma, give the volume and the reporter that published the decision. U.S. Courts of Appeals decisions are in the Federal Reporter: F. (1880–1924), F.2d (1924–1993), F.3d (1993–2021), and F.4th (2021 on). District court decisions are in the Federal Supplement: F. Supp. (1932–1998), F. Supp. 2d (1998–2014), and F. Supp. 3d (2014 on).

309 F.3d

Watch the spacing. F.2d, F.3d, and F.4th have no spaces. F. Supp. has a space after F., and the series number gets one too: F. Supp. 2d.

3. First page

Give the page where the decision begins in that volume.

309 F.3d 629

Quoting a specific page? That page goes in your in-text citation, not here.

4. Court and year

In parentheses, name the court in its abbreviated form, then the year of the decision. The reporter alone doesn't say which court decided the case, so this part can't be skipped.

(9th Cir. 2002)

For a court of appeals, write the circuit as 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and so on, then Cir. Legal citations write 2d and 3d, not 2nd and 3rd. The two circuits without numbers are written D.C. Cir. and Fed. Cir.

For a district court, give the district's abbreviation: E.D. Pa. for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, W.D. Tex. for the Western District of Texas, E.D.N.Y. for the Eastern District of New York. A state with one district gets D. and the state: D. Kan.

(E.D. Pa. 1972)

5. Appeal

If you cite a district court decision that went to a court of appeals, add the appeal after a comma: aff'd when the higher court agreed (affirmed) or rev'd when it disagreed (reversed), then the appeal's volume, reporter, page, court, and year.

(W.D. Tex. 1994), rev'd, 78 F.3d 932 (5th Cir. 1996).

Your in-text citation then gives both years with a slash between them: 1994/1996.

6. URL

End with a link to the opinion if you have one that anyone can open, with no period after it. Free sources include the Caselaw Access Project from Harvard Law School Library, CourtListener, and Justia.

https://case.law/caselaw/?reporter=f3d&volume=309&case=0629-01

Leave out Westlaw and Lexis links. They need a login, and the volume and page already identify the case.

Examples

A U.S. Court of Appeals case: Conant v. Walters

The Ninth Circuit's 2002 decision upholding an order that keeps the federal government from punishing doctors for recommending medical marijuana to patients, a case cited in health policy and ethics courses. It's in the third series of the Federal Reporter, so the reporter is F.3d.

  • Parenthetical citation(Conant v. Walters, 2002)
  • Narrative citationConant v. Walters (2002)

A U.S. District Court case: the PARC case

The 1972 Eastern District of Pennsylvania decision approving a consent agreement that opened free public education to children with intellectual disabilities, a landmark in special education. The caption's "The" and "Commonwealth of" drop out of the name, and the organization's name stays as the court printed it.

  • Parenthetical citation(Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Pennsylvania, 1972)
  • Narrative citationPennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Pennsylvania (1972)

A district court case affirmed on appeal: the Baby Jane Doe case

The 1983 Eastern District of New York decision refusing the federal government access to a newborn's medical records under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, affirmed by the Second Circuit in 1984. It's a classic in nursing and medical ethics. The link goes to the appeal, the decision that settled the case.

  • Parenthetical citation(United States v. University Hospital, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1983/1984)
  • Narrative citationUnited States v. University Hospital, State University of New York at Stony Brook (1983/1984)

A district court case reversed on appeal: Hopwood v. Texas

The challenge to the University of Texas School of Law's admissions program, decided in the Western District of Texas in 1994 and reversed by the Fifth Circuit in 1996. Education and higher education students meet it in admissions and affirmative action readings.

  • Parenthetical citation(Hopwood v. Texas, 1994/1996)
  • Narrative citationHopwood v. Texas (1994/1996)

In-text citations

A federal court case's in-text citation is the case name, in italics, and the year. Leave the court out of the citation: the reference carries it.

  • Parenthetical: (Conant v. Walters, 2002)
  • Narrative: In Conant v. Walters (2002), the Ninth Circuit held…
  • A case with an appeal: both years, earlier first, with a slash: (Hopwood v. Texas, 1994/1996)
  • A quotation: add the page where the words appear, after the year, with p.

Use the same case name that's on your references page, and never cite a case by one party's name alone, as if that party were an author.

Common mistakes

  • 309 F.3d 629 (2002).309 F.3d 629 (9th Cir. 2002).The Federal Reporter publishes all 13 courts of appeals, so the parentheses have to say which one decided the case. Only Supreme Court references leave the court out.
  • (2nd Cir. 1984)(2d Cir. 1984)Legal citations write 2d and 3d, not 2nd and 3rd. That goes for the reporter series too: F.2d, F. Supp. 3d.
  • (9th Circuit 2002)(9th Cir. 2002)The court is always abbreviated. District courts follow the same rule: E.D. Pa., not Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
  • Hopwood v. State of TexasHopwood v. TexasCaptions often say "State of" or "Commonwealth of," but the case name drops those words. Generators tend to copy the caption as printed.
  • 861 F.Supp. 551861 F. Supp. 551F. Supp. has a space after F. The Federal Reporter abbreviations, like F.3d, don't.
  • (Hopwood v. Texas, 1996)(Hopwood v. Texas, 1994/1996)A reference with an appeal has two years, and the in-text citation gives both. The case name is italic in your sentences.

Quick checklist

  • Short case name, not italicized in the reference
  • Volume, reporter (F.3d, F. Supp. 2d, and so on), and first page
  • Court abbreviation and year together in parentheses
  • 2d and 3d, never 2nd and 3rd
  • Appeal added with aff'd or rev'd, when there was one
  • A free link to the opinion, with no period after it
  • Case name in italics in the text, with both years for an appealed case

Questions students ask

What's the difference between F.3d and F. Supp.?

They're two different reporters. The Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d, F.4th) publishes decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the circuit courts. The Federal Supplement (F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, F. Supp. 3d) publishes decisions of the U.S. District Courts, where federal cases start.

How do I cite a federal case that was appealed?

Give the district court decision, then a comma, aff'd or rev'd, and the appeal's volume, reporter, page, court, and year. In the text, give both years with a slash: (Hopwood v. Texas, 1994/1996).

How do I know which circuit or district decided a case?

It's at the top of the opinion, as in "United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit" or "United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania." Turn that into the abbreviation: 9th Cir. or E.D. Pa. In PERRLA you can type the full district name and it fills in the abbreviation.

What if the case isn't published in a reporter?

Some decisions appear only on Westlaw or Lexis. Legal citation style, which APA follows for court cases, cites them by the docket number, the database citation (a Westlaw cite looks like the year, WL, and a number), and the court with the full date of the decision in the parentheses. PERRLA's Unreported Case section builds that for you.

What's F. App'x?

The Federal Appendix publishes court of appeals decisions the court chose not to designate as precedent. Cite it like the Federal Reporter, with F. App'x as the reporter and the circuit in the parentheses. In PERRLA, choose it under Where was the case published?

Do I italicize a federal court case name in APA?

In your sentences and in-text citations, yes. On the references page, no. That's the reverse of most sources, and it comes from the legal citation style APA uses for court cases.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 11.1–11.4 (legal references and court decisions), which follow the legal citation format of The Bluebook, and its circuit, district, and appealed case examples. Example sources verified against each decision's full text and court record in the Caselaw Access Project (Harvard Law School Library) and CourtListener, including the dispositions of the two appeals (affirmed, 729 F.2d 144; reversed and remanded, 78 F.3d 932).

PERRLA builds federal court references from a pasted citation or a few fields, with the court abbreviations, 2d and 3d, and aff'd or rev'd handled for you.

Try PERRLA free for 7 days