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aznchew.bsky.social
@aznchew.bsky.social
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scotusplaces.bsky.social
Judge Langholz explains the origin of (cleaned up) and its rapid adoption, and then explains in plain terms why the parenthetical is useful. /2
I believe that the speed and breadth of the organic growth of the use of (cleaned up) reflects its readily apparent benefit—improving the readability of judicial opinions without sacrificing accuracy. That is why I use (cleaned up), including in the court’s opinion here. When quoting the governing precedent from our supreme court, it matters not that parts of the quotations were themselves quotations from prior supreme court cases. Adding in sets of internal quotations marks to set off those parts and extra parentheticals citing the cases from which those internal quotations came would serve little purpose. It is the words used by the supreme court in the case we quoted that govern. See Cleaning Up, at 152 (“A court’s decision is expressed in the words it uses in its opinion, not in the brackets and ellipses that might also appear in the opinion.”). And (cleaned up) alerts a reader that wishes to dive deeper that there is a quotation within the quotation that could be checked out by reading the cited case. So I generally see no need to clutter up our opinions with extra punctuation and citation baggage
October 31, 2025 at 4:48 PM
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scotusplaces.bsky.social
Thanks to @djsziff.bsky.social for alerting me to this important special concurrence from the Iowa Court of Appeals.
www.iowacourts.gov/courtcases/2...
I didn't realize at first that opinion goes beyond simply noting how (cleaned up) is superior to the Bluebook's (citation modified) version /1
LANGHOLZ, Judge (specially concurring). I continue on, beyond what is needed for the court to decide this case, to explain my persistent use of the legal-citation parenthetical (cleaned up) despite the contrary guidance of the latest edition of the Bluebook. See The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation R. B5.3, at 9 (Columbia L. Rev. Ass’n et al. eds., 22d ed. 2025) [hereinafter “Bluebook”]. Some may question—perhaps rightly—the importance of such a technicality. But I find the organic adoption of (cleaned up) to be a remarkable innovation in legal citation that improves the readability of judicial opinions and written advocacy. And (cleaned up) more accurately describes the practice that it notes than the Bluebook’s alternative: (citation modified). In short, (cleaned up) is worth saving. And I hope that the bench and the bar will not be bullied by the Bluebook into letting it die. The (cleaned up) Parenthetical. In 2017, an attorney proposed a new legal citation practice to address the problem of “excessive punctuation clutter” and “citation baggage” that accumulates when a legal writer quotes authority that itself
October 31, 2025 at 4:44 PM
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aznchew.bsky.social
Another good review, but this time with bonus state law (??!!) content. I appreciate in particular the succinct explanation of why (citation modified) is 👎🙄.

bsky.app/profile/djsz...
October 16, 2025 at 12:02 PM
aznchew.bsky.social
My review was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and it’s still one of my favorite things I’ve read in a law journal. BB22 makes me long for the apparently halcyon days of BB20.
djsziff.bsky.social David Ziff @djsziff.bsky.social · 26d
My previous review of The Bluebook was written ten years ago, for the 20th edition. It was 27 pages and received mixed reviews. 1/
ziffblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/m...
October 16, 2025 at 11:59 AM
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djsziff.bsky.social
Question for the academic masses: What is conference swag you actually appreciate and use? Please limit your responses to affordable/reasonable things. (A free iPad would be cool, I guess... But come on.) Thanks!
August 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
aznchew.bsky.social
Instead of “recommending” a substantive explanatory parenthetical when the cited authority isn’t otherwise clear to the reader, Bluebook 22 now “requires” the parenthetical in Whitepages Rule 1.5(a).

(No change to Bluepage/practitioner rules! But RIP journal article word counts…)
July 30, 2025 at 10:02 PM
aznchew.bsky.social
This huge imperial moth was hanging out on the wall outside my office this morning. Those are standard sized bricks!
Large yellow and brown moth covering an entire brick
July 30, 2025 at 2:46 PM
aznchew.bsky.social
I love this 😂
matthewstiegler.bsky.social Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · Jul 26
I’m just saying, I don’t want judges and clerks to read my briefs and think “wow he’s so smart, he did such a brilliant job of arguing that claim.” I want them to think, “how does that bozo luck into all these cases with slam-dunk claims?”
July 26, 2025 at 5:14 PM
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raulpachecovega.bsky.social
“I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”
― Shannon Hale

#AcWri #GetYourManuscriptOut #AmWriting #WritingSky #AcademicSky
July 3, 2025 at 12:03 AM
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jalwd.bsky.social
Call for Proposals for commentary and critique, an opportunity to engage with previously published works from the LC&R archive. We will accept and review proposals for commentary and critique on a rolling basis. Submit your proposal to lcr@alwd.org.
June 25, 2025 at 4:12 PM
aznchew.bsky.social
I feel seen. North Carolina is just big bites from here until November, with the occasional copperhead scare and a lot of sweating.
anangryopossum.bsky.social FrankensteinsOpossum @anangryopossum.bsky.social · Jun 20
HOW are people suffocating in those states? Are they falling into grain bins? Chasing each other with plastic bags on their heads?
Map of how people get hurt across USA and Midwest is running around with a plastic bag on its head I guess?
June 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM