Jonah Patel
The US Constitution is a key legal document, and there are several styles for citing it in academic work. This paragraph will outline how to cite the US Constitution in APA style, which is commonly used in academic writing. APA style for legal materials defers to the Bluebook, a uniform system of citation that sets the standard for legal citations. While the APA Publication Manual does not include citing constitutions in its examples, this paragraph will provide guidance on how to apply APA style to the US Constitution.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Style | APA |
| Type of source | Legal material |
| Source name | The US Constitution |
| Abbreviation | U.S. Const. |
| Article | art. (use Roman numerals: I, II, III) |
| Amendment | amend. (use Roman numerals: I, II, III) |
| Section | § (use Arabic numbers: 1, 2, 3) |
| Clause | cl. (use Arabic numbers: 1, 2, 3) |
| Preamble | pmbl. |
| Reference format | Author, A. A. (Year). Title [Title type]. Title Source. URL (if available) |
| Author | The United States |
| Title | The US Constitution |
| Title type | Constitution |
| Date | n.d. (no date) |
| URL | n.a. (not applicable) |
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What You'll Learn
Citing the US Constitution in APA without a reference list entry
When citing the US Constitution in APA style, you can simply make a passing reference to it in your text without including a citation in the reference list. This is because the APA style explains that when referring to a whole constitution, indicating the constitution in the narrative is sufficient.
For example, you can say something like: "The US Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly."
However, if you are using some part of the US Constitution as evidence to support a point, you should construct the citation using Bluebook Rule 11, which covers federal and state constitutions. All citations of the US Constitution begin with "U.S. Const.", followed by the article, amendment, section, and/or clause numbers as relevant.
- U.S. Const. art. I, § 3: The founding fathers addressed the process by which new states may join the union.
- U.S. Const. amend. XVIII (repealed 1933): During prohibition, the sale of liquor was made illegal.
- U.S. Const. art. II, § 4: This is a parenthetical citation (U.S. Const. art II, § 4) and a narrative citation: Article 1, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution.
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Using Bluebook Rule 11 for referencing the US Constitution
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation provides an extensive set of rules for citing legal documents. Rule 11 outlines the standard for referencing the US Constitution and state constitutions.
According to Rule 11, when citing the US Constitution, you should use the abbreviation "U.S." followed by "Const." and then include the specific article, amendment, section, and clause numbers. For example, the correct citation for the 14th Amendment, Section 2 of the US Constitution is: "U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 2".
It is important to note that Rule 11 dictates that you cannot use a short cite other than "Id." for constitutions. This means that if you are referring to a specific provision of the US Constitution, you should always use the full citation format as described above.
In addition to the US Constitution, Rule 11 also covers state constitutions. When citing a state constitution, you should combine the abbreviated geographic region from Table 10 with the word "CONST." in small caps typeface. For example, to cite Article X, Part IV of the Louisiana Constitution, the correct citation is: "LA. CONST. art. X, pt. IV".
The Bluebook also provides guidance on typeface and capitalization. When citing the US Constitution, subdivisions and names should be capitalized and in regular typeface. On the other hand, when citing state constitutions, subdivisions and names are not capitalized and remain in regular typeface.
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Citing a specific article in the US Constitution
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is the standard for all legal citations, and the style for legal citations in the Publication Manual comes directly from it. Although the Publication Manual includes a variety of legal citation examples (cases, statutes, bills, and more), citing constitutions is not among them.
If you simply want to make a passing reference to the U.S. Constitution in an APA Style paper, you can mention it in the text without a reference list entry. However, if you are using a part of the U.S. Constitution as evidence to support a point, you should construct the citation using Bluebook Rule 11, which covers federal and state constitutions.
All citations of the U.S. Constitution begin with "U.S. Const.," followed by the article, amendment, section, and/or clause numbers as relevant. The terms article, amendment, section, and clause are always abbreviated as "art.," "amend.," "§," and "cl.," respectively. Preamble is abbreviated as "pmbl." Article and amendment numbers are given in Roman numerals (I, II, III), while section and clause numbers are given in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).
For example, if you are citing the article of the Constitution that addresses the process by which new states may join the union, your citation would look like this:
> U.S. Const. art. I, § 3
The Bluebook states that for parts of the Constitution currently in force, do not include a date. However, if you are referring to a part of the Constitution that has been repealed or amended, include the year that the part in question was repealed or amended in parentheses.
Additionally, when citing federal laws in APA Style, include the name of the law, "U.S.C." (short for United States Code), the title and section of the code where the law appears, the year, and optionally the URL. The year included is when the law was published in the source consulted, not when it was passed, amended, or supplemented.
A law may also have a public law number, which is used in the citation in special cases: when the law is not yet included in the United States Code or is spread across non-consecutive parts of the Code. In these cases, cite the law using its public law number and information about where it was published.
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Citing a specific amendment in the US Constitution
To cite a specific amendment in the US Constitution in APA style, you should follow the Bluebook Rule 11, which covers federal and state constitutions.
Firstly, you should abbreviate the name of the document to "U.S. Const.". Next, you should include the article in the following format: "Art.". Article numbers should be written using Roman numerals, so "I" instead of "1".
Following this, you should include the amendment, which is abbreviated to "Amend." and also written in Roman numerals. Then, you should include the section, abbreviated to "§", and written in Arabic numerals.
For example, to cite Article 1, Section 3, and Clause 1 of the US Constitution as amended by Section 1 of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1919, the citation would look like this:
> U.S. Const. Art. I, §3, cl. 1, amended 1919.
If you are referring to a part of the Constitution that has been repealed or amended, include the year that the part in question was repealed or amended in parentheses.
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Citing the US Constitution in APA's 7th edition
The APA recommends following the Bluebook uniform system of citation for legal materials. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is the standard reference for legal citations. The APA Publication Manual (7th edition) provides some information on citing legal sources in Chapter 11 (page 355). For more in-depth information on citing legal materials, refer to the Bluebook or the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law.
If you are simply making a passing reference to the U.S. Constitution in an APA Style paper, you can mention it in the text without a reference list entry. However, if you are using a part of the U.S. Constitution as evidence to support a point, you should construct the citation using Bluebook Rule 11, which covers federal and state constitutions.
All citations of the U.S. Constitution begin with "U.S. Const." followed by the article, amendment, section, and/or clause numbers as relevant. The terms article, amendment, section, and clause are always abbreviated as "art.," "amend.," "§," and "cl.," respectively. Preamble is abbreviated as "pmbl." Article and amendment numbers are given in Roman numerals (I, II, III), while section and clause numbers are given in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3). For parts of the Constitution currently in force, do not include a date.
For example, a parenthetical citation of Amendment XIX to the U.S. Constitution would look like this: (U.S. Const. amend. XIX). The narrative citation would be: Amendment XIX of the U.S. Constitution.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution should be abbreviated in reference lists and parentheticals to U.S. Const. It should be followed by the article, amendment, section, and/or clause numbers as relevant. The terms article, amendment, section, and clause are always abbreviated as art., amend., §, and cl., respectively. Preamble is abbreviated as pmbl.
The Bluebook is a uniform system of citation for legal materials. It sets the standard for all legal citations and includes all the necessary abbreviations and symbols. The APA defers to the Bluebook style for legal materials.
No, a date does not need to be included when citing the US Constitution. However, if you are citing a repealed amendment, a date should be included.
