cite Pacer
The Cite Pacer template generates a citation for the PDF from a recent US Federal Court Case, archived for free by the Recap browser plugin at the Internet Archive based on copyright-free original public documents made available by the US Government's PACER Service.
Template documentationUsage
As with other citation templates, this template can be used either in a footnote (between ... tags) or in a section that lists sources.
If the correct parameters are used, this template produces output via the general purpose citation template, {{Citation}}.
Each case is assigned a number in the format D:YY-TT-SSSSS where D=Division Office (most districts are split into divisions), YY=Year, TT=Type (e.g. bk=bankruptcy, cv=civil, cr=criminal), SSSSS=Sequence number. The case number does not contain any type of court identifier, so a two-letter state abbreviation is needed, and when a state has multiple Federal districts, a two-letter abbreviation is needed to further disambiguate which court the case is in.
The CM/ECF database system assigns a unique number to cases in each court, and it is this pacer-number which is used for direct linking to cases. Recap also takes advantage of this unique identifier.
Regardless of which citation templates are used or even if none are used at all, all citations should have the same format throughout an article in the saved, rendered text.
Note: All parameter names must be lowercase.
Simple citations
This section covers all parameters. You can copy the horizontal form or vertical form below and then remove extra parameters from the full list. Spacing and ordering of the parameters within the template is irrelevant and does not affect the final, rendered text.
{{Cite Pacer |plaintiff= |defendant= |title= |date= |case-division= |case-year= |case-type= |case-sequence= |case-state= |case-district= |doc-number= |att-number= |pacer-number= |access-date= |use-pacer= |use-recap= |case-title= |recap-number= |ref= }}
{{Cite Pacer | plaintiff = | defendant = | title = | date = | case-division = | case-year = | case-type = | case-sequence = | case-state = | case-district = | doc-number = | att-number = | pacer-number = | access-date = | use-pacer = | use-recap = | case-title = | recap-number = | ref = }} |
- Required Parameters
- plaintiff: The Lead Plaintiff, used to build ref and case-title if not set
- defendant: The Lead Defendant, used to build ref and case-title if not set
- title: The title of the filing
- date: date case was filed
- case-division: The location within the district (division office) where the court is held.
- case-year: The year or last two digits of the year the case was filed. Additional letters may be appended to disambiguation cases filed the same year.
- case-type: "cv" for civil case, "cr" for criminal cases, "bk" for bankruptcy cases.
- case-sequence: The clerk's serial number for the case within the section and year.
- case-state: Two-letter abbreviation for state. Use dc or DC for District of Columbia
- case-district: 1- or 2-letter abbreviation for which Federal district the court is in, optional if the state has only one district. Use "sd" for Southern District, "cd" for Central District, etc.
- doc-number: The docket number of the filing
- Optional Parameters
- att-number: The attachment number of the filing if this is not the main document. OPTIONAL
- pacer-number: The electronic filing number for the case; unique within a district. OPTIONAL
- access-date: Date when the online docket was accessed. ILLEGAL if pacer-number and recap-number both unset
- use-recap: Link to Recap if either recap-number or pacer-number is set. "no" is the only useful non-default value. OPTIONAL
- use-pacer: Link to PACER if pacer-number is set. "no" is the only useful non-default value. OPTIONAL
- case-title: The name of the case, optional if plaintiff and defendant set OPTIONAL
- recap-number: The database number for the case, not needed if pacer-number is set. But if only this is set, only a Recap link can be made. OPTIONAL
- ref: The name by which this citation may be short-linked to, optional if plaintiff and defendant set OPTIONAL
Examples
{{Cite Pacer | plaintiff = CREW | defendant = Trump | title = Complaint | doc-number = 1 | date = Jan 23, 2017 | case-division = 1 | case-year = 2017 | case-type = cv | case-sequence = 00458 | case-state = NY | case-district = sd | recap-number = 467802 | access-date = Jul 14, 2017 }} | "Complaint" (PDF), CREW v. Trump (Court Filing), no. 1:17-cv-00458, Docket 1, S.D.N.Y., Jan 23, 2017, retrieved Jul 14, 2017 – via Recap |
{{Cite Pacer | plaintiff = CREW | defendant = Trump | title = Complaint | doc-number = 1 | date = Jan 23, 2017 | case-division = 1 | case-year = 2017a | case-type = cv | case-sequence = 00458 | case-state = NY | case-district = sd | pacer-number = 467802 | access-date = Jul 14, 2017 }} | "Complaint" (PDF), CREW v. Trump (Court Filing), no. 1:17-cv-00458, Docket 1, S.D.N.Y., Jan 23, 2017, retrieved Jul 14, 2017 – via Recap (PACER current docket view ) |
{{Cite Pacer | plaintiff = CREW | defendant = Trump | date = Jan 23, 2017 | title = Complaint | doc-number = 1 | case-year = 2017b | case-type = cv | case-sequence = 00458 | case-state = NY | case-district = sd | pacer-number = 467802 | access-date = Jul 14, 2017 | use-pacer = no }} | "Complaint" (PDF), CREW v. Trump (Court Filing), no. 1:17-cv-00458, Docket 1, S.D.N.Y., Jan 23, 2017, retrieved Jul 14, 2017 – via Recap |
{{Cite Pacer | plaintiff = CREW | defendant = Trump | title = Complaint | doc-number = 1 | date = Jan 23, 2017 | case-division = 1 | case-year = 2017c | case-type = cv | case-sequence = 00458 | case-state = NY | case-district = sd | pacer-number = 467802 | access-date = Jul 14, 2017 | use-recap = no }} | "Complaint", CREW v. Trump (Court Filing), no. 1:17-cv-00458, Docket 1, S.D.N.Y., Jan 23, 2017 (PACER current docket view) |
{{Cite Pacer | plaintiff = CREW | defendant = Trump | title = Complaint | doc-number = 1 | date = Jan 23, 2017 | case-division = 1 | case-year = 2017d | case-type = cv | case-sequence = 00458 | case-state = NY | case-district = sd | pacer-number = 467802 | access-date = Jul 14, 2017 | use-pacer = no | use-recap = no }} | "Complaint", CREW v. Trump (Court Filing), no. 1:17-cv-00458, Docket 1, S.D.N.Y., Jan 23, 2017 |
{{Cite Pacer | plaintiff = CREW | defendant = Trump | title = Complaint | doc-number = 1 | date = Jan 23, 2017 | case-division = 1 | case-year = 17e | case-type = cv | case-sequence = 00458 | case-state = Ny | case-district = Sd }} | "Complaint", CREW v. Trump (Court Filing), no. 1:17-cv-00458, Docket 1, S.D.N.Y., Jan 23, 2017 |
Cite a filing or attachment to a filing in US Federal District Court Case, and optional link to Recap free archive and/or PACER non-free current Docket.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead Plaintiff | plaintiff | Short name for Lead Plaintiff
| String | required |
| Lead Defendant | defendant | Short name for Lead Defendant
| String | required |
| Case Name | case-title | Name of Case, listing at least one plaintiff and defendant, each
| Content | optional |
| Document/Attachment Name | title | Display name for Document or Attachment
| Content | required |
| Document Number | doc-number | Serial number of filing in official court docket
| Number | required |
| Attachment number | att-number | Attachment number or 0 for main document of a filing
| Unknown | optional |
| Date of Filing | date | When the Document was filed with the clerk of the court
| Date | required |
| PACER Number | pacer-number | PACER/Recap database number of case within District
| Number | suggested |
| Use PACER? | use-pacer | Set to no to avoid linking to docket when PACER number is set
| Boolean | optional |
| Recap number | recap-number | Recap database number, defaults to PACER number
| Number | optional |
| Use Recap? | use-recap | Set to no to avoid linking to Recap if pacer-number or recap-number set
| Boolean | suggested |
| State | case-state | Two-letter official abbreviation of State of the US Federal Court
| String | required |
| District | case-district | One- or two-letter abbreviation of district within a State of the US Federal Court
| String | suggested |
| Division | case-division | Number to indication which division of the district where the case was filed
| Number | required |
| Case Year | case-year | The two- or four-digit year in which the case was filed and any optional alphabetic reference distinguisher needed
| String | required |
| Case Type | case-type | Use cv for Civil, cr for Criminal, and bk for Bankruptcy
| String | required |
| Case Sequence Number | case-sequence | Unique identifier issued by the clerk within division, type and year
| String | required |
| access-date | access-date | Date Recap document was confirmed to support article | Date | suggested |
| Reference Name | ref | Name for this citation used for intra-page linking | String | optional |