Template:Infobox SCOTUS case

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Assistance

If you find yourself confused in how to use this template or need assistance, please feel free to leave comments on the talk page.

Usage

This template aims to standardize U.S. Supreme Court cases. It's a very versatile template that includes features such as: argue dates that are automatically formatted correctly, citations that include a link to the text of the case, and accurate court membership with a much lower chance of error.

For a detailed description of this template's usage, see below. For information about commonly inserted information, refer to this guide. The template is part of WikiProject U.S. Supreme Court cases.

Parameters

Parameter names shown opposite in italics indicate parameters that form external links.

Optional parameters

Most parameters in this template are optional. Leaving parameters such as ReargueDate, Concurrence5, or Overruled blank is OK and will not change or alter anything in the template. Parameters such as Majority, JoinMajority, etc. are all optional. Any fields that need to be added can be done so easily – either add the code if you feel comfortable doing so, or contact me and I will add the fields you need.

Commonly needed

Uncommonly needed

{{Infobox SCOTUS case |Litigants= |ArgueDate= |ArgueYear= |DecideDate= |DecideYear= |FullName= |USVol= |USPage= |ParallelCitations= |Docket=XX-XXX |OralArgument=http://www.oyez.org/cases/YYYY-YYYY/YYYY/YY-Docket/argument/ |OralReargument=http://www.oyez.org/cases/YYYY-YYYY/YYYY/YY-Docket/reargument/ |OpinionAnnouncement=http://www.oyez.org/cases/YYYY-YYYY/YYYY/YY-Docket/opinion/ |Prior= |Subsequent= |Holding= |SCOTUS=YEAR–YEAR <!-- &endash; preferred, hyphen accepted --> |Majority= |JoinMajority= |Concurrence= |JoinConcurrence= |Concurrence2= |JoinConcurrence2= |Concurrence/Dissent= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent= |Dissent= |JoinDissent= |Dissent2= |JoinDissent2= |LawsApplied= }}

{{Infobox SCOTUS case |Litigants= |Litigants2= |Litigants3= |Litigants4= |Litigants5= |OriginalJurisdiction=yes |ArgueDate= |ArgueDateA= |ArgueDateB= |ArgueYear= |ReargueDate= |ReargueDate2= |ReargueDateA= |ReargueDateB= |ReargueDateA2= |ReargueDateB2= |ReargueYear= |ReargueYear2= |SubmitDate= |SubmitYear= |DecideDate= |DecideYear= |FullName= |Docket= |Docket2= |Docket3= |Docket4= |Docket5= |OralArgument= |ParallelCitations= |USVol= |USPage= |Claim= |Prior= |Procedural= |Subsequent= |QuestionsPresented= |Holding= |SCOTUS=YEAR-YEAR |PerCuriam=yes |Majority= |JoinMajority= |Majority2= |JoinMajority2= |Majority3= |JoinMajority3= |Plurality= |JoinPlurality= |Concurrence= |JoinConcurrence= |Concurrence2= |JoinConcurrence2= |Concurrence3= |JoinConcurrence3= |Concurrence4= |JoinConcurrence4= |Concurrence5= |JoinConcurrence5= |Concurrence/Dissent= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent= |Concurrence/Dissent2= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent2= |Concurrence/Dissent3= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent3= |Concurrence/Dissent4= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent4= |Concurrence/Dissent5= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent5= |Concurrence/Dissent6= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent6= |Concurrence/Dissent7= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent7= |Concurrence/Dissent8= |JoinConcurrence/Dissent8= |Dissent= |JoinDissent= |ConcurrenceDissent= |Dissent2= |JoinDissent2= |ConcurrenceDissent2= |Dissent3= |JoinDissent3= |ConcurrenceDissent3= |Dissent4= |JoinDissent4= |ConcurrenceDissent4= |Dissent5= |JoinDissent5= |ConcurrenceDissent5= |NotParticipating= |Seriatim= |Seriatim2= |Seriatim3= |Seriatim4= |Seriatim5= |LawsApplied= |Superseded= |Overruled= |Overturned previous case= }}

Argue dates

Most cases will only need to use ArgueDate, ArgueYear, DecideDate, and DecideYear. Only cases that have more than one argue date need to use ArgueDateA and ArgueDateB. ReargueDate and ReargueYear should only be used if there was a reargue date.

Citations

USVol and USPage

Cases should be cited using the U.S. Reports volume and page number in the USVol and USPage fields, respectively. If the case does not yet have a page assigned, use "|USPage=___" (three underscores).

ParallelCitations

The ParallelCitations field is for additional (parallel) citations for the same case (e.g. "|ParallelCitations=111 S. Ct. 1282; 113 L. Ed. 2d 358").

Docket

For newer cases (those decided after 2000 or so), you should enter the Supreme Court docket number in the Docket field (e.g. "|Docket=06-1234").

Prior history

This field can contain citations to prior decisions in the case, in trial court or lower appellate courts, or prior decisions by the subject court; these should be preceded by a two to four word description of the ruling—this (together with the subsequent history, following) is merely the bare bones procedural history of the case—what happened when at what court. Please use the citation only for the preferred court reporter (not all parallel citations) to reduce length. If unreported (as with most criminal convictions, for example), list the ruling, the court, and the date.

Subsequent history

This field can contain citations to or general descriptions of subsequent decisions by lower courts after a remand or vacation, or by the same court, as in a denial of rehearing, or continuing proceedings in a trial court.

Holding

A very brief (one or two sentence) description of what the central ruling of the case was. This may or may not be fact-specific, depending on how broadly the court's opinion was worded; follow with a short statement of what the specific outcome of the case was.

Court membership

To add the court membership, you need to put in the key from the list below which covers the relevant year in which the court issued the case decision, not heard oral argument. This will automatically fill in the members of the court for the appropriate year(s). The syntax is "|SCOTUS=yyyy[c][–yyyy]". That is, it takes one of the three forms:

• "|SCOTUS=1939" for a single-year composition
• "|SCOTUS=1969b" for the rare case of more than one composition within a year
• "|SCOTUS=1940–1941" for the usual range of years, which should be separated by an endash per WP:YEAR, but a hyphen is also acceptable.

Court composition key

To view the make-up of each Court, see List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States by court composition.

1789–1844	1845–1903	1903–1956	1956–present
1789–1792 1792–1793 1793 1793–1795 1795 1796–1798 1798–1799 1799 1799–1800 1800 1801–1804 1804–1806 1807 1807–1810 1810–1811 1811–1812 1812–1823 1823–1826 1826–1828 1828–1829 1830–1834 1835 1836–1837 1837–1838 1838–1841 1842–1843 1843–1844	1845–1846 1846–1851 1851–1852 1853–1857 1858–1860 1860–1861 1862–1863 1863–1864 1864–1865 1865–1867 1867–1870 1870–1872 1873 1874–1877 1877–1880 1881 1882–1887 1888 1888–1889 1890 1891–1892 1892–1893 1893 1894–1895 1896–1897 1898–1902 1902–1903	1903–1906 1906–1909 1910 1911 1912–1914 1914–1916 1916 1916–1921 1921–1922 1922 1923 1923–1925 1925–1930 1930 1930–1932 1932–1937 1937–1938 1938 1939 1940–1941 1941–1942 1943–1945 1945–1946 1946–1949 1949–1953 1953–1954 1955–1956	1956–1957 1957–1958 1958–1962 1962 1962–1965 1965–1967 1967–1969 1969 1969b 1970–1971 1972–1975 1975–1981 1981–1986 1986–1987 1988–1990 1990–1991 1991–1993 1993–1994 1994–2005 2005–2006 2006–2009 2009–2010 2010–2016 2016 2017

Case opinions

All the written opinions handed down in the case are listed in the following categories of majority, concurrent, etc. Always follow the designations used in the reported decision.

List all justices under these headings only by their last name, as their full names are already given above in the court membership section.

Note: If a judge recused or was otherwise absent, use the NotParticipating field to document that.

Majority

The justice who authored the majority opinion.

Joined by

The justices who joined in the majority/plurality opinion. Early cases (18th – mid-19th century) may not list who has joined in the majority—unless they are listed as the author of a separate concurrence or dissent, or as joining such a separate opinion, list them as joining the majority. If the decision was unanimous, simply say that it was joined by a "unanimous court" rather than relisting every judge.

Concurrences, concurrence/dissents, dissents

List all concurrences, followed by concurrence/dissents, followed by dissents. Within each grouping, try to order the opinions by the seniority of the authoring justice, with the chief justice always considered the most senior regardless of actual length of tenure.

Concurrence/dissent

These will usually be labeled in the original opinion as "concurring in part and dissenting in part". Follow these designations, because from the text of the opinion alone it is sometimes difficult to tell concurrences from dissents from partial concurrences/partial dissents.

Laws applied

These are citations to the constitutional and statutory provisions that were the primary basis for the decision only. They do NOT include case law, nor every law that happens to be cited in the case or that is rejected as inapplicable with minimal discussion.

Manual of Style

This is a proposed manual of style. Its contents are based on the infoboxes found in various case articles, but notably the styles used in the three featured-article cases: Dred Scott v. Sandford, Roe v. Wade, and Lawrence v. Texas. This manual attempts to add consistency throughout all of the case articles. This manual's aim is to focus on the style that is currently widely used throughout United States Supreme Court cases. It is in no way a final draft, or set in stone. Changes should be made to it, and then implemented in the different articles.

The manual follows the template's layout. All parameter names are in bold (e.g. Litigants). Cases inside a single set of brackets [ ] are examples where a certain item can be seen "in action."

General notes

Formatting is done automatically. There is no need to use wiki markup ('' or ''') or HTML (<b> or <i>) for most parameters. Exceptions are: Prior, Subsequent, Superseded, Overruled, and Overturned previous case.

Litigants

In almost all cases, Litigants will be the same as the name of the article, often also known as the short name of the case found at the top of the printed pages of the case [Dred Scott v. Sandford].

Argue date

Most cases will simply need to use ArgueDate and ArgueYear. If the case was argued over more than one day, ArgueDateA and ArgueDateB can be employed. Unless the argue dates span over more than one month, the month's name should only be used once [Eisenstadt v. Baird]. If a case was reargued, the same style should be used [Champion v. Ames]. Also, the full name of the month should always be used.

Older cases may not list an argue date. Thorough research can generally produce one, but if a date can not be found, leave the parameters blank. Other old cases will have a submitted date; in these instances, use SubmitDate and SubmitYear [Nix v. Hedden].

Decide date

There is only ever one DecideDate and DecideYear.

Full name

The full case name should try to include the first and last names of all parties and whatever other information is included in the full name of the case [Bowers v. Hardwick]. For example, Michael J. Bowers, Attorney General of Georgia v. Michael Hardwick, et al. If that information cannot be found, using a shorter name of the case is permissible.

Any time "et al." is used, there should always be a comma preceding it.

Volume and page

USVol and USPage are the United States Reports volume number and starting page on which the case was reported.

Docket number

Newer cases should use Docket (e.g. "|Docket=05-184") [Hamdan v. Rumsfeld].

Citations

The U.S. Reports citation will be generated automatically from the USVol and USPage fields. Most cases should include additional citations such as the Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.) in the ParallelCitations field. You should not begin this field with anything other than the next citation; a semicolon or another space is redundant [Loving v. Virginia]. Each citation should be separated by a semicolon and a single space, never any other type of punctuation (e.g. "|ParallelCitations=87 S. Ct. 1817; 18 L. Ed. 2d 1010; 1967 U.S. LEXIS 1082").

Newer cases that have yet to be assigned a specific volume and page should use "|USPage=___" (three underscores). The correct volume that a case will be in when it's assigned its page can be found on the Supreme Court's website; it will be on top of every odd-numbered page of the PDF slip opinion except the first. Other citations will be available and should be separated by a semi-colon and a single space [eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C.].

Prior history

Prior is the most lenient field. The information here should be whatever you can gather. Sometimes that will be only a short statement [Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha] or may be more in-depth [Roe v. Wade]. All formatting here must be added by the user. Prior should never end in a period, comma, or semi-colon. An exception can be made if a period is used as part of an abbreviation.

Subsequent history

Subsequent is optional. Newer cases most likely won't have a subsequent history. Older cases may never have gone any further after being decided by the Supreme Court. A simple "None" can be used in this instance. Once again, Subsequent should never end in a period, comma, or semi-colon. An exception can be made if a period is used as part of an abbreviation and all formatting here must be added by the user.

Holding

Holding consists of a few sentences describing the Court's ruling. It should be concise and it should always end in a period.

Court membership

SCOTUS contains the court composition years in which the case was decided [Lawrence v. Texas]. Use the key above and fill in the code for the relevant years during which the case was decided. This will automatically fill in the members of the court for the appropriate year(s). The syntax is "|SCOTUS=yyyy[c][–yyyy]". That is, it takes one of the three forms:

• "|SCOTUS=1939" for a single-year composition
• "|SCOTUS=1969b" for the rare case of more than one composition within a year
• "|SCOTUS=1940–1941" for the usual range of years, which should be separated by an endash per WP:YEAR, but a hyphen is also acceptable

Case opinions

Laws applied

Previous cases

Superseded

Superseded is used when a later case partially changes the ruling in an earlier case. For example, the case of Ring v. Arizona superseded Walton v. Arizona, as it partially overruled the previous case. The earlier case gets the |Superseded= parameter set to the italicized, wikilinked named of the later case (as if the parameter were actually named "Superseded by", which is the heading that appears in the Infobox).

For example, in Walton v. Arizona, we set |Superseded=''[[Ring v. Arizona]]'' .

Note: There is currently no equivalent "Supersedes" parameter to be set in the later article.

Overruled

Overruled may be used where a later case changes the findings in an earlier one. As noted above in the Ring case, it also overruled Spaziano v. Florida. The earlier case gets the |Overruled= parameter set to the italicized, wikilinked named of the later case (as if the parameter were actually named "Overruled by", which is the heading that appears in the Infobox).

For example, in Spaziano v. Florida, we set |Overruled=''[[Ring v. Arizona]]'' .

Note: There is currently no equivalent "Overrules" parameter to be set in the later article.

Overturned previous case

If the holding of a case is completely changed by a later case, the original case is said to be overturned. Unlike |Overrules= and |Supersedes=, in the later case article, the |Overturned previous case= parameter should be set to the value of the earlier case, including italicizing and wikilinking markup (as if the parameter were actually named "Overturns").

For example, the Supreme Court overturned a prior case when it announced in Lawrence v. Texas that it had been wrong in deciding the original case of Bowers v. Hardwick. In the Lawrence v. Texas article, we set |Overturned previous case=''[[Bowers v. Hardwick]]''.

Note: There is currently no equivalent "Overturned by" parameter to be set in the earlier article.

Template data

This is the TemplateData documentation for this template used by VisualEditor and other tools; see the monthly parameter usage report for this template.

TemplateData for Infobox SCOTUS case

<templatedata> { "params": { "italic title": {}, "Litigants": { "suggested": true, "required": true }, "Litigants2": {}, "Litigants3": {}, "Litigants4": {}, "Litigants5": {}, "Outcome": {}, "SubmitDate": { "label": "Date submitted" }, "SubmitYear": { "label": "Year submitted" }, "ArgueDate": { "suggested": true, "label": "Date argued", "example": "January 1" }, "ArgueDateB": {}, "ArgueDateC": {}, "ArgueYear": { "suggested": true, "label": "Year argued", "example": "1970" }, "ArgueDateA": {}, "ReargueDate": { "label": "Date reargued" }, "ReargueYear": { "label": "Year reargued" }, "ReargueDateA": {}, "ReargueDateB": {}, "ReargueDate2": {}, "ReargueYear2": {}, "ReargueDateA2": {}, "ReargueDateB2": {}, "DecideDate": { "suggested": true, "label": "Date decided", "example": "January 1" }, "DecideYear": { "suggested": true, "label": "Year decided", "example": "1970" }, "FullName": { "suggested": true, "label": "Full case name" }, "Docket": { "suggested": true, "label": "Docket number", "description": "Supreme Court docket number for newer cases (those decided after 2000 or so)" }, "Docket2": {}, "Docket3": {}, "Docket4": {}, "Docket5": {}, "USVol": { "suggested": true, "label": "United States Reports volume number" }, "USPage": { "suggested": true, "label": "United States Reports page number" }, "ParallelCitations": { "suggested": true, "label": "Parallel citations" }, "Citation": {}, "Claim": {}, "Prior": { "suggested": true }, "Procedural": {}, "Subsequent": { "suggested": true, "label": "Subsequent history" }, "Related": {}, "OralArgument": { "suggested": true, "label": "Oral argument URL", "example": "http://www.oyez.org/cases/YYYY-YYYY/YYYY/YY-Docket/argument/" }, "OralArguments": {}, "OralReargument": { "suggested": true, "label": "Oral reargument URL", "example": "http://www.oyez.org/cases/YYYY-YYYY/YYYY/YY-Docket/reargument/" }, "OpinionAnnouncement": { "suggested": true, "label": "Opinion announcement URL", "example": "http://www.oyez.org/cases/YYYY-YYYY/YYYY/YY-Docket/opinion/" }, "QuestionsPresented": { "label": "Questions presented" }, "Holding": { "suggested": true }, "SCOTUS": { "suggested": true, "label": "Court membership", "example": "2010-2016", "description": "The date range uniquely describing the court's composition" }, "category": {}, "Majority": { "suggested": true, "label": "Majority opinion by", "description": "The justice who authored the majority opinion." }, "Plurality": { "label": "Plurality by" }, "PerCuriam": {}, "Dissent": { "suggested": true, "label": "Dissent by" }, "JoinMajority": { "suggested": true, "label": "Majority joined by" }, "Majority2": { "label": "Second majority by" }, "JoinMajority2": { "label": "Second majority joined by" }, "Majority3": { "label": "Third majority by" }, "JoinMajority3": { "label": "Third majority joined by" }, "JoinPlurality": { "label": "Plurality joined by" }, "Plurality2": { "label": "Second plurality by" }, "JoinPlurality2": { "label": "Second plurality joined by" }, "Plurality3": { "label": "Third plurality by" }, "JoinPlurality3": { "label": "Third plurality joined by" }, "Plurality4": { "label": "Fourth plurality by" }, "JoinPlurality4": { "label": "Fourth plurality joined by" }, "Seriatim": {}, "Seriatim2": {}, "Seriatim3": {}, "Seriatim4": {}, "Seriatim5": {}, "Concurrence": { "suggested": true }, "JoinConcurrence": { "suggested": true }, "Concurrence2": { "suggested": true }, "JoinConcurrence2": { "suggested": true }, "Concurrence3": {}, "JoinConcurrence3": {}, "Concurrence4": {}, "JoinConcurrence4": {}, "Concurrence5": {}, "JoinConcurrence5": {}, "Concurrence6": {}, "JoinConcurrence6": {}, "Concurrence7": {}, "JoinConcurrence7": {}, "Concurrence8": {}, "JoinConcurrence8": {}, "Concurrence/Dissent": { "suggested": true }, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent": { "suggested": true }, "Concurrence/Dissent2": {}, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent2": {}, "Concurrence/Dissent3": {}, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent3": {}, "Concurrence/Dissent4": {}, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent4": {}, "Concurrence/Dissent5": {}, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent5": {}, "Concurrence/Dissent6": {}, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent6": {}, "Concurrence/Dissent7": {}, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent7": {}, "Concurrence/Dissent8": {}, "JoinConcurrence/Dissent8": {}, "JoinDissent": { "suggested": true, "label": "Dissent joined by" }, "ConcurrenceDissent": {}, "Dissent2": { "suggested": true, "label": "Second dissent by" }, "JoinDissent2": { "suggested": true, "label": "Second dissent joined by" }, "ConcurrenceDissent2": {}, "Dissent3": { "label": "Third dissent by" }, "JoinDissent3": { "label": "Third dissent joined by" }, "ConcurrenceDissent3": {}, "Dissent4": { "label": "Fourth dissent by" }, "JoinDissent4": { "label": "Fourth dissent joined by" }, "ConcurrenceDissent4": {}, "Dissent5": { "label": "Fifth dissent" }, "JoinDissent5": { "label": "Fifth dissent joined by" }, "NotParticipating": { "label": "Justice not participating",

                       "description": "If one or more judges were on the court at the time the decision was rendered, yet did not participate in the case because of a recent appointment, recusal, or other absence, list them here."

}, "LawsApplied": { "suggested": true, "label": "Laws applied" }, "Superseded": {}, "Overruled": {}, "Overturned previous case": { "label": "Previous cases overturned" }, "Abrogated": {} }, "description": "Infobox for United States Supreme Court cases", "paramOrder": [ "Litigants", "Litigants2", "Litigants3", "Litigants4", "Litigants5", "ArgueDate", "ArgueDateA", "ArgueDateB", "ArgueDateC", "ArgueYear", "ReargueDate", "ReargueYear", "ReargueDate2", "ReargueYear2", "ReargueDateA", "ReargueDateA2", "ReargueDateB", "ReargueDateB2", "SubmitDate", "SubmitYear", "DecideDate", "DecideYear", "FullName", "USVol", "USPage", "ParallelCitations", "Docket", "Docket2", "Docket3", "Docket4", "Docket5", "OralArgument", "OralReargument", "OpinionAnnouncement", "Claim", "Prior", "Procedural", "Subsequent", "QuestionsPresented", "Holding", "SCOTUS", "PerCuriam", "Majority", "JoinMajority", "Majority2", "JoinMajority2", "Majority3", "JoinMajority3", "Plurality", "JoinPlurality", "Plurality2", "JoinPlurality2", "Plurality3", "JoinPlurality3", "Plurality4", "JoinPlurality4", "Concurrence", "JoinConcurrence", "Concurrence2", "JoinConcurrence2", "Concurrence3", "JoinConcurrence3", "Concurrence4", "JoinConcurrence4", "Concurrence5", "JoinConcurrence5", "Concurrence6", "JoinConcurrence6", "Concurrence7", "JoinConcurrence7", "Concurrence8", "JoinConcurrence8", "Concurrence/Dissent", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent", "OralArguments", "Concurrence/Dissent2", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent2", "Concurrence/Dissent3", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent3", "Concurrence/Dissent4", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent4", "Concurrence/Dissent5", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent5", "Concurrence/Dissent6", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent6", "Concurrence/Dissent7", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent7", "Concurrence/Dissent8", "JoinConcurrence/Dissent8", "Dissent", "JoinDissent", "ConcurrenceDissent", "Dissent2", "JoinDissent2", "ConcurrenceDissent2", "Dissent3", "JoinDissent3", "ConcurrenceDissent3", "Dissent4", "JoinDissent4", "ConcurrenceDissent4", "Dissent5", "JoinDissent5", "NotParticipating", "Seriatim", "Seriatim2", "Seriatim3", "Seriatim4", "Seriatim5", "LawsApplied", "Superseded", "Overruled", "Overturned previous case", "Abrogated", "italic title", "category", "Citation", "Outcome", "Related" ], "format": "block" } </templatedata>

See also

• Template:Infobox COA case For US court of appeals cases.
• Template:Infobox high court to create a US State Supreme Court template, for example, Oregon Supreme Court