Making Your Writing Out of Cite
Other Miscellaneous Mistakes
When you omit a word or words from a
sentence, indicate so by inserting three periods ( ... ). When the omission is at the end
of a sentence, use a fourth period.22 If you
omit the first word of a quote, don’t use
ellipses.23 Instead, capitalize the first letter and place it in brackets if it wasn’t already capitalized.24 When you string cite
something (cite multiple authorities for a
specific proposition), follow Bluebook Rule
1.4.25 That rule requires you to list authorities in this order: Supreme Court, courts of
appeals, district courts, states (alphabetically by state and then by rank within each
state).26 If you have more than one case
from the same court, arrange them in reverse chronological order.27 Notably, some
law clerks think that string cites are not
helpful and should be avoided unless the
writer wants to show a particular proposition has been “firmly established.”28
A Few Changes in the 20th Edition
One of the biggest criticisms of The Bluebook is that it is difficult to use. The good
news about the 20th edition is that the editors have updated the layout “to make the
information easier to access.” T H