Subject: ABA Citation Resolution 

Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 15:25:00 +0000 

From: NET9!PO9!BiermanL@aba.attmail.com (Bierman, Luke) 

To: citation@teo.uscourts.gov 

CC: NET9!PO9!aba!NET9!PO9!BiermanL@aba.attmail.com, + 
12155802146/ATTN=ns@fax.attmail.com

     The following is submitted on behalf of the ABA Judicial 
Division, Hon. Norma L. Shapiro, Chair. Questions can be referred to 
Luke Bierman, Director, Judicial Division, 541 North Fairbanks Court, 
Chicago, IL 60611, phone 312-988-5703, fax 312-988-5709, email 
biermanl@staff.abanet.org 

     Comment on Adoption of ABA Citations Resolution 

     Three of the six Judicial Division Conferences supported the ABA 
resolution on citations. It should be noted, however, that three 
constituencies of the ABA who are very affected by this policy, the 
Appellate Judges Conference, the National Conference of Federal Trial 
Judges and the Conference of Chief Justices, all opposed its 
adoption. Three reasons are paramount: 

     1) Instead of encouraging adoption of a uniform electronic 
citation format and encouraging its use as a parallel cite to the 
Reporters currently in use, the policy encourages adoption of the new 
format as the primary cite. Thus, it recommends that courts not 
require page citation to current Official Reporters. This would leave 
courts that are not online without precise citation to readily-
available authority. 

     2) It may be premature to adopt the ABA model until litigation 
is resolved; the Conference of Chief Justices advises that there may 
be litigation pending involving West Publishing Company and the 
copyright issue over pin-point citations. 

     3) The Conference of Chief Justices is currently conducting a 
survey of all state courts seeking information on how the proposed 
system would operate and the costs of this changed system. Until this 
information is analyzed, the Conference of Chief Justices is opposed 
to the ABA recommendation as to citation style and proper respect for 
federal/state judicial relations suggests that the Judicial 
Conference (and federal judiciary generally) should defer at least 
for the present. It also should be noted that with regard to citation 
in state reporters, there is likely to be little implementation of 
the ABA policy until the Conference of Chief Justices is satisfied 
with the format. 

cc: Conference of Chief Justices