PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Federal court case

How to Cite a Federal Court Case in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a federal court case starts with the court as a government author, like United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, then gives the case name in italics, the reporter in italics (the Federal Reporter for the courts of appeals, the Federal Supplement for the district courts, with its series), vol. and the volume, the year of the decision, and pp. and the pages. The in-text citation names the court and the page: (United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 636).

The format

United States, Court of Appeals for the # Circuit. Name v. Name. Federal Reporter, # Series, vol. #, Year, pp. #–#.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 30, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th 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 and fills in the case name, the volume, the first page, the court, and the year. The legal citation has no last page, so add it in Case Ending Page Number. When it finds the case on CourtListener, a free case-law site, it adds a link to the opinion; delete the link if you read the case somewhere else. Check the case name, the court, and the year against the opinion. Paste one decision at a time.

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

  • U.S. Circuit Court case for a U.S. Court of Appeals decision: pick the Federal Reporter Series and type the Circuit Number, like 9th. PERRLA spells it out as Ninth Circuit.
  • U.S. District Court case for a district court decision: pick the Federal Supplement Series and type the district's name in Court District Name. PERRLA also turns an abbreviation like E.D. Pa. into Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Then fill in the Case Name, the volume, the Case Starting Page Number, the Case Ending Page Number, and the Year. PERRLA adds pp. and shortens the range the MLA way (pp. 629–49). Read the opinion online? Add the URL (Web address) and the site's name in Website Name, like Caselaw Access Project, and PERRLA sets the site in italics after the reporter. A case that was appealed has two decisions: make a separate entry for each one you read, with the court that decided it.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Author: the court

MLA treats the court as the author, the way it treats any government body: United States, a comma, and the court's name, then a period. Spell the circuit out as a word.

United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

For a district court, write the district's name in full after United States: United States, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Don't use the legal abbreviations (9th Cir., E.D. Pa.) here. They belong to legal citation, not to MLA's author element.

2. Case name

Give the case name in italics, v. included, followed by a period. MLA italicizes case names in the Works Cited entry and in your sentences.

Hopwood v. Texas.

Use the short name, not the caption. Keep the first party on each side, give a person's surname only, and drop et al. and a leading "The." The Fifth Circuit's caption begins "Cheryl J. Hopwood, et al. v. State of Texas, et al.," and the case is known as Hopwood v. Texas. Keep an organization's name as the court printed it, even when the wording is dated.

3. Reporter and volume

The reporter that published the decision is the container. Its full name goes in italics, followed by a comma, then vol. and the volume number.

Federal Reporter, Third Series, vol. 309,

Courts of appeals decisions are in the Federal Reporter: the first series (F.), then the Second Series (F.2d, 1924–93), Third Series (F.3d, 1993–2021), and Fourth Series (F.4th). District court decisions are in the Federal Supplement: the first series (F. Supp., to 1998), then the Second Series (F. Supp. 2d) and Third Series (F. Supp. 3d). A first-series volume has no series in its title, so write just Federal Supplement or Federal Reporter.

4. Year

Give the year the court decided the case, then a comma. The full date, day first, is fine too: 29 Oct. 2002.

2002,

Use the date of the decision you're citing. An appealed case has two decisions with two dates, and each gets its own entry.

5. Pages

Write pp. and the pages the decision fills, first to last, then a period. Past 99, the second number keeps only its last two digits, unless more are needed to make the range clear.

pp. 629–49.

The legal citation gives only the first page (629). For MLA, look up the last page too. Free case-law sites like the Caselaw Access Project show the page numbers through the whole opinion.

6. Website and URL

Read the opinion on a website? MLA wants the version you used, so add the site as a second container: its name in italics, a comma, and the URL without https://, then a period.

Caselaw Access Project, static.case.law/f3d/309/html/0629-01.html.

Read it in Westlaw, Lexis, or Nexis Uni through your library? The database is the second container: its name in italics, then the permanent link it gives the case, if it gives one. A link copied from your browser's address bar usually opens only for people logged in.

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, on pages 629 to 649. This entry is for the copy on the Caselaw Access Project, so the website follows the reporter as a second container. The court's line that the policy "strike[s] at core First Amendment interests of doctors and patients" is on page 636.

  • In-text citation(United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 636)
  • Narrative citationIn Conant v. Walters, the Ninth Circuit found that the government's policy does "strike at core First Amendment interests of doctors and patients" (636).

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. It's in the first series of the Federal Supplement, pages 279 to 316.

  • In-text citation(United States, Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
  • Narrative citationIn Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Pennsylvania, the federal district court approved …

The district court decision in an appealed case: Hopwood v. Texas (1994)

The challenge to the University of Texas School of Law's admissions program was first decided in the Western District of Texas in 1994. Education and higher education students meet it in admissions and affirmative action readings. If you read this decision, cite it on its own, with the district court as the author.

  • In-text citation(United States, Western District of Texas)
  • Narrative citationIn Hopwood v. Texas, the district court ruled that …

The appeal: Hopwood v. Texas (1996)

The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court in 1996. This is the decision most readings discuss. It's a separate decision with its own court, year, and pages, so it gets its own Works Cited entry. If you cite both decisions, add a short form of the case name and the year in your sentence so your reader can tell them apart.

  • In-text citation(United States, Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit)
  • Narrative citationIn Hopwood v. Texas, the Fifth Circuit reversed …

A case brought by the government: the Baby Jane Doe case

The Second Circuit's 1984 decision refusing the federal government access to a newborn's medical records under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a classic in nursing and medical ethics. It's in the second series of the Federal Reporter, pages 144 to 163. The case name starts with the government, so its short form uses the first party that isn't a government: University Hospital.

  • In-text citation(United States, Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit)
  • Narrative citationIn United States v. University Hospital, State University of New York at Stony Brook, the Second Circuit held that …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation points to the first words of the Works Cited entry, so for a federal case it names the court. Add the page when you quote or point to a passage, with no comma before it.

  • Parenthetical: (United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 636)
  • District court: (United States, Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
  • More than one case from the same court: add a short form of the case name in italics: (United States, Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Hopwood). When a case name starts with the government, use the first party that isn't a government: University Hospital.
  • Court and case in your sentence: the smoothest choice for long court names, and it leaves only the page for the parentheses: In Conant v. Walters, the Ninth Circuit found that the policy does "strike at core First Amendment interests of doctors and patients" (636).

After you've named a case once, you can call it by its short form in your sentences, like Conant or the Hopwood decision. Keep the italics.

Common mistakes

  • Conant v. Walters, 309 F.3d 629 (9th Cir. 2002).United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Conant v. Walters. Federal Reporter, Third Series, vol. 309, 2002, pp. 629–49.That's the legal citation, the form APA uses. MLA follows its own template: the court as author, the case name in italics, and the reporter, volume, year, and pages spelled out.
  • United States, 9th Cir.United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.MLA names the court in words. The abbreviations 9th Cir. and E.D. Pa. come from legal citation.
  • Federal Reporter, Third Series, vol. 309, 2002, p. 629.Federal Reporter, Third Series, vol. 309, 2002, pp. 629–49.The legal citation gives only the first page, but MLA gives the pages the whole decision fills.
  • (Conant v. Walters, 2002)(United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 636)That's APA. An MLA in-text citation starts with the first words of the Works Cited entry, the court, and it takes a page, not a year.
  • United States, Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Hopwood v. Texas. … 1994, rev'd 1996.Two entries: one for the 1994 district court decision and one for the 1996 Fifth Circuit decision.MLA cites the work you read. The district court and the court of appeals wrote different decisions, so each one you use gets its own entry.

Quick checklist

  • The court as author, spelled out: United States, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • Short case name in italics, with v.
  • The reporter's full name in italics, with its series, then vol. and the volume
  • The year of the decision
  • pp. and the pages the whole decision fills
  • One entry per decision you read, if the case was appealed
  • In text: the court, plus the page if you have one

Questions students ask

What's the difference between the Federal Reporter and the Federal Supplement?

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. In MLA, write the reporter's full name in italics, with the series.

How do I cite a federal case that was appealed in MLA?

Cite the decision you read. The district court's decision and the court of appeals' decision are separate works with their own courts, years, and pages, so if you use both, give each its own entry. In your sentence, say which one you mean: the 1996 Hopwood decision.

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." A legal citation hides it in the parentheses: 9th Cir. is the Ninth Circuit, and E.D. Pa. is the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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

Cite the version you read, with the docket number and the full date of the decision. The MLA Style Center's own example is a Second Circuit decision from the court's website: the court, the case name in italics, Docket no. 15-2272, 9 Jan. 2017, then the website in italics and its URL.

Do I italicize a federal court case name in MLA?

Yes, everywhere: in the Works Cited entry, in your sentences, and in parentheses. Italicize the whole name, v. included. Names of laws, like the Rehabilitation Act, stay in plain type.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, containers, and government authors) and chapter 6 (in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's post Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style (follow the MLA template for court cases; cite the version you consulted; italicize case names; short names from the first party on each side; short forms from the first nongovernmental party; and its federal appeals court example, United States, Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit). Example sources verified against each decision's full text and court record in the Caselaw Access Project (Harvard Law School Library): court, decision date, reporter, and first and last page.

PERRLA builds federal court entries from a pasted citation or a few fields, with the court spelled out as the author and the reporter named in full.

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