Skip to content

Case checker
Format checker
Pricing
About
Blog

Sign in Check a document

Students
Law firms
Government
Case checker
Format checker
Pricing
About
Blog

Sign in
Check a document

Citation review for court filings and law-review articles, checked against the Bluebook and the public court record.

Product

Check a document
Case citation checker
Pricing
How it works
Case record
Rule library

Who it's for

Students
Law firms
Courts and agencies

Company

About
Blog
Contact

Legal

Terms of service
Privacy policy
Security

© 2026 Counselcite. Not affiliated with the Bluebook or its publishers.

Bluebook is a registered trademark of the Columbia Law Review Association, the Harvard Law Review Association, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal.

Citation rules/Bluepages/B1.1 Citation Sentences and Clauses

Lowercase the signal

Error²Federal courts, Illinois courts21st and 22nd editions

A citation set off by commas inside a sentence is a citation clause, and the signal opening one stays lowercase; only a signal opening its own citation sentence is capitalized.¹

Check a document

1B1.1 Citation Sentences and Clauses; B1.2 Introductory Signals; R. 1.1(b)(ii) Citation clauses.
2An error: the rule in note 1 allows one form, and this is not it.

NextReplace the period with a comma

More in Bluepages

Abbreviate the history phrase
Abbreviate to "ex rel."
Add a comma after the citation
Add the pincite for each reporter
Lowercase the signal
Move the parenthetical after the date
Remove the closing period
Remove the department or district
Replace the period with a comma

Back to Bluepages

More in Bluepages

Abbreviate the history phrase
Abbreviate to "ex rel."
Add a comma after the citation
Add the pincite for each reporter
Lowercase the signal
Move the parenthetical after the date
Remove the closing period
Remove the department or district
Replace the period with a comma

Back to Bluepages

Sign in Check a document

Check a document