For appellate court decisions, which publication is used?

• A. Federal Reporter
• B. U.S. Reports
• C. Supreme Court Reporter
• D. Federal Appendix

Answer: (A)

Appellate decisions in the federal system are published in the Federal Reporter, which gathers opinions from the United States Courts of Appeals and provides standard citations for those decisions. The United States Reports is reserved for the Supreme Court’s opinions, not appellate courts. The Supreme Court Reporter is another commercial publication that also covers Supreme Court opinions. The Federal Appendix contains unpublished or slip opinions from federal appellate courts and is not the primary source for published appellate decisions. So, the best fit for appellate decisions is the Federal Reporter.