The new twenty-second edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation was published late last month. A joint project of the editors of four top law reviews (Columbia, Harvard, Penn, and Yale), the Bluebook provides guidance on citation forms for both practitioners (the Bluepages) and academics (the Whitepages).
So what’s new in the 22d edition's 35 extra pages? Promising "hundreds of edits, large and small" (using the same introductory boilerplate as the 21st edition), the Preface contains a summary of noteworthy changes, with a similar explanatory list at W.S. Hein. Some of the key changes include the new introductory signal "contrast" in Rule 1.2, expanded Special Citation Forms in Rule 15.8 (including a streamlined citation for Wright & Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure), and a new Rule 14.4 on state administrative law materials, pushing the former rule at that number on commercial electronic databases to 14.5.
Electronic sources prompt changes in each new Bluebook, and this edition is no exception. The Preface notes that "Rule 18 has been substantially rewritten both to provide greater clarity surrounding existing rules and to add new rules to cover a greater number of sources, including AI-generated content." Categories covered by this rule have expanded to include streaming audio services, blockchain and payment software transactions, and generative AI results. The Rule still does require citation to "traditional printed sources when available," a stance that carries over to the rest of the Bluebook: yes, Rule 12.3.2 still prefers that the year of a code citation be taken from the spine or title page of a print volume, even as those physical volumes become scarcer in law libraries.
Preservation was clearly on the editors' minds this edition. A new Rule 23 provides expanded guidance on citing to archival sources, like Supreme Court Justices' papers, historical newspapers, and ephemera.
Image caption: Green Bag, Bobblehead of Justice Elena Kagan (2024) (on file with J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke Univ.) Did we do that right, Rule 23 editors?
One of the Rule 18 changes, to 18.2.1(d), now emphasizes "The Bluebook requires that all online content cited or generated by authors be captured and stored in a permanent setting." (Previously, the 21st edition version of this rule said "Archiving of internet sources is encouraged, but only when a reliable archival tool is available"). Tools like Perma.cc and the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine can help authors preserve web content and avoid link rot.
There is also more guidance on citing to legal materials beyond U.S. federal and state jurisdictions. Rule 20.2.4 expands guidance for citing to sources in non-Roman alphabets. Rule 22, developed in collaboration with a group of law librarians, covers citation of materials from sovereign Tribal Nations. A new Table 1.5 of federally recognized Tribal Nations has also been added to the free online content. Table 2 on Foreign Jurisdictions moved online from the body text in the previous edition, and has continued to expand in the newest edition.
For a peek behind the curtain of the Bluebook editorial process, visit SSRN to download "The Bluebook: An Insider’s Perspective," forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review. M. Burke Craighead, Bluebook Editorial & Strategy during his time on the Harvard Law Review, offers insight on the extensive discussion and compromises that went into many 22d edition changes, such as whether to include Palestine in Table 10.3's Countries and Regions list. Craighead's piece also reveals how disagreement among the four partner journals resulted in a compromise to reach the new "citation modified" parenthetical in Rule B5.3 when citations are edited for clarity. After years of reader advocacy for a "cleaned up" parenthetical gained traction on social media and in practice, the editors debated how to respond—especially as one partner school indicated its animosity for the appellate lawyer who had coined the phrase after a "sour interaction." (So if you follow the Bluebook's request in the Preface that "The compilers request that any errors, omissions, or suggestions for revisions be reported […] to editor@legalbluebook.com," be sure to mind your manners.)
In the Law Library, print copies of the new Bluebook will soon be available on Reserve and Course Reserve for four-hour loan. You can purchase a personal copy or electronic access online. Because counterfeit copies have been found on third-party booksellers for years, the editors caution to purchase a copy only from authorized distributors, such as directly from the Bluebook website or from W.S. Hein. For help with locating or using the new edition of the Bluebook, be sure to Ask a Librarian.