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To cite a legal case in APA 7th edition, give the case name, the volume and first page of the reporter, and the court and year in parentheses, with no italics in the reference list. The same case name is italicised in the text. That flip is the detail most manuscripts and theses get wrong, and this guide shows it side by side for three worked cases.
The format (each element named)
APA 7 treats legal references under the Publication Manual’s chapter on legal references. The patterns below follow the APA 7 legal-reference examples as set out in agreeing university-library guides (listed in Sources).
US Supreme Court decision
Name v. Name, Volume Number U.S. Page Number (Year). URL
- Case name: usually one party versus another.
- Reporter citation: the volume number, the reporter abbreviation (U.S. for the United States Reports) and the first page of the decision.
- Year: the year the case was decided, in parentheses. The court is implied by the reporter, so it is not repeated.
- URL: optional.
State court decision
Name v. Name, Volume Reporter Page (Court Year). URL
Here the court is named inside the same parentheses as the year. Give the precise jurisdiction of the court that wrote the decision, for example a state supreme court.
If the entry includes a page number, give only the first page, never a range.
Examples
1. A Supreme Court case with a page number
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483
2. A recent Supreme Court case with no page number yet
When a decision has no page assigned, three underscores stand in for the page.
Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015). https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf
3. A state court case
McKenzie v. Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 541 N.E.2d 325 (Mass. 1989).
“Mass.” identifies the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; a decision from the Appeals Court is labelled “Mass. App. Ct.” instead. The reporter is N.E.2d, and 325 is the first page.
In-text citation version
In the running text, the case name is italicised and followed by the year only. Use the parenthetical form or the narrative form, as with any author-date citation.
- Parenthetical: (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954)
- Narrative: Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Reference entry and in-text form compared
| Case | Reference list (no italics) | In-text parenthetical (italics) |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court, page known | Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). | (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954) |
| Supreme Court, no page assigned | Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015). | (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015) |
| State court | McKenzie v. Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 541 N.E.2d 325 (Mass. 1989). | (McKenzie v. Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 1989) |
The court never appears in the in-text form, even for the state case. It lives only in the reference entry.
For manuscripts and theses
If a case name is long, shorten it in the text; the reference entry carries the full name. Where a decision is published in more than one reporter, include all of the citations in the entry. For the general mechanics of author-date citations, see parenthetical citation, and for how the whole reference list fits a student paper see the APA format guide.
Common errors
- Italicising the case name in the reference list. The italics belong to the in-text form only.
- Giving a page range. A legal entry carries only the first page of the decision.
- Leaving the court out of a state case. The Supreme Court pattern omits it because “U.S.” identifies the court; state entries do not have that shortcut.
- Guessing the page number. Take the volume and first page from the decision’s published reporter citation, not from memory; if no page has been assigned, use three underscores.
- Dropping the underscores. A decision with no page assigned still needs the placeholder, as in 576 U.S. ___ (2015).
- Adding the court to the in-text citation. The in-text form is the case name and year.
If you are also citing books and articles in the same reference list, compare the patterns in how to cite from a book, and keep paraphrased case summaries properly attributed using APA paraphrase citation. For a thesis, run the same checks across the whole reference list before submission.
Style-guide edition
This page follows APA 7th edition (2020), as of October 2026. Legal references appear in the Publication Manual’s chapter 11, which the library guides cite for these examples. The patterns above cover United States Supreme Court and state court decisions. For federal circuit and district courts, and for courts outside the United States, follow the examples in chapter 11 of the Publication Manual, which defers to the Bluebook for legal citation conventions; start from the examples for the court that decided your case.
FAQ
Do I italicise the case name in APA?
In the text, yes. In the reference list, no: the case name is set in plain type.
What if I cannot find the page number?
Look up the reporter citation rather than guessing. If the decision has no page assigned yet, write three underscores in its place, as in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015).
Is the URL required?
No. The URL is optional in the templates; include one when it helps the reader reach the decision.
Where does the court go?
For a state case, inside the parentheses with the year, as in (Mass. 1989). For a Supreme Court case, the U.S. reporter identifies the court, so nothing extra is added.
Do I use the Bluebook instead?
APA defers to the Bluebook where its own legal examples do not cover your court. For the courts covered above, use the APA patterns.
Sources
- Columbus State Community College Library, “Legal and Government Documents – APA 7 Citations”, https://library.cscc.edu/apa7/legal (page last updated July 29, 2026; checked October 29, 2026).
- Regis College Library, “Legal Resources – APA Style, 7th edition”, https://libguides.regiscollege.edu/APA7/legal (page last updated October 6, 2026; checked October 29, 2026).
- Green River College Holman Library, “Citations – APA and Legal”, https://libguides.greenriver.edu/Legal_Research/cite (page last updated October 26, 2026; checked October 29, 2026).
- American Psychological Association, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (2020), chapter 11 (legal references), as cited by the guides above.
