Cite a court case in MLA 9
Court cases are the source type where MLA 9 (2021) diverges most from ordinary author-date patterns. Legal citations privilege the case name, reporter volume, reporter abbreviation, first page, court, and year. Some styles keep legal punctuation almost intact, while others adapt cases into reference-list entries, so every locator must be copied exactly.
MLA 9 rules for a court case
- Case name is italicized in APA and Harvard, but plain in MLA and Chicago author-date.
- Include the reporter volume number.
- Copy the reporter abbreviation exactly, such as U.S. or F. Supp.
- Include the first page of the reported decision.
- Add the court abbreviation when it is not clear from the reporter.
- End with the decision year and URL when citing an online copy.
- Invert party names where appropriate, as in Last, First v. Last, First.
- Keep the legal reporter citation after the case name.
Worked example
MLA 9 · court caseA real court case formatted using the MLA 9 rules above.
Court, United States Supreme "Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483." *Legal Information Institute*, 1954, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.
Build your own MLA 9 reference
Paste a URL, DOI, or ISBN below. The generator is preset to MLA 9.
We’ll detect the type and pull metadata via CrossRef (DOIs), Open Library (ISBNs), or Open Graph tags (URLs). Edit anything before copying.