Star pagination is the system of asterisk-and-number markers embedded in digital case opinions that shows exactly where each page break falls in the corresponding printed reporter. When you read a decision on Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, or Google Scholar, you will see markers like [*917] scattered through the text. Each one tells you that everything after it sits on that page of the physical book. The system exists because lawyers still have to cite the exact reporter page when quoting or relying on a case, even though almost no one reads cases in a law library anymore.
What the Markers Look Like
A star pagination marker is an asterisk followed by a page number, usually in brackets. [*345] means the text that follows appears on page 345 of the printed reporter. The marker can land anywhere, including the middle of a sentence, because it reflects where a printer happened to break the page. The placement has nothing to do with legal significance. It is purely mechanical.
Many cases appear in more than one reporter, and digital versions track all of them at once by varying the number of asterisks. A single asterisk typically marks the official reporter, such as the U.S. Reports for Supreme Court cases. A double asterisk marks a secondary commercial reporter, like the Supreme Court Reporter. A triple asterisk marks a third publication, often the Lawyer’s Edition. So inside a single paragraph of digital text, you might see [*52], [**417], and [***209], each pointing to the corresponding page in a different set of books.
That layering matters in practice. A court’s local rules may require citation to the official reporter, while a secondary source prefers a regional reporter. Reading all three page breaks in one document saves the cross-referencing that used to require three open books on a table.
How to Build a Pinpoint Citation
Star pagination exists to support pinpoint citations, sometimes called pincites or jump cites. A pinpoint directs the reader to the specific page where a quoted passage or legal proposition actually appears, not just the opening page of the opinion. Courts expect pinpoints whenever you quote, paraphrase, or rely on a particular part of a case. The reasoning is simple: if you say a case supports your argument, the judge should be able to flip to the page and verify.
The mechanic works like this. Say you are reading a Supreme Court opinion that begins at volume 521, page 898 of the U.S. Reports. You scroll through the digital text and find the passage you need. Just above it, you see the marker [*917]. Your pinpoint citation becomes 521 U.S. 898, 917. The case starts at 898, and the quoted material sits on 917. Without star pagination, you would need the physical book in front of you to get that number right.
Inaccurate page references are not a minor formatting lapse. Judges notice. A page cite that does not check out makes a brief look careless, and in serious cases attorneys have been admonished for citation practices that render their filings misleading or unverifiable. At minimum, a judge who cannot quickly confirm your source is less likely to trust the rest of your argument.
What Court Rules Require
Federal and state courts impose formatting requirements on briefs and motions, and most demand pinpoint citations for any proposition of law. The U.S. Supreme Court’s own rules require briefs to include citations to both official and unofficial reporters for opinions entered in the case, and references to the record must indicate the appropriate page number.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States, Part VI Most federal appellate and district courts follow similar conventions, typically modeled on the Bluebook.
The Bluebook treats a case differently depending on whether you can identify a printed reporter page. When star pagination is available, you cite the case as if you were reading the physical book: volume, reporter, first page, pincite. When a case appears only in a database without star pagination, you fall back to a database citation that uses docket numbers and database identifiers rather than page numbers. Star pagination is what lets you produce the cleaner, more authoritative version.
Which Platforms Show Star Pagination
The major commercial databases all include it. Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law each embed asterisk-based page markers throughout their case texts, covering the principal reporters for federal and state courts. Google Scholar’s legal opinions section also provides star pagination, which makes it a capable free tool for anyone who needs pinpoint citations without a paid subscription.
Coverage gets uneven beyond those. Fastcase, now bundled with some bar association memberships, uploads cases initially in slip opinion form without pagination. Official page numbers are added later as they become available, so there can be a gap between when a case first appears and when its star pagination is usable. Free resources like CourtListener, run by the Free Law Project, include pagination for many opinions, though coverage depends on the source material available for each case.2Library of Congress. CourtListener and Caselaw Access Project – How To Find Free Case Law
One practical check before you file anything: confirm your source actually displays star pagination before you rely on its page numbers. A case text without those markers is still useful for reading the law. It will not give you the page references courts expect in a formal filing.
When Star Pagination Does Not Apply
Some jurisdictions have adopted vendor-neutral or medium-neutral citation formats that sidestep the reporter-page problem entirely. Instead of tying citations to a printed volume, these systems assign each opinion a unique identifier based on the court, the year, and a sequential case number, then use paragraph numbers for pinpoints. A citation might read “2024 UT 15, ΒΆ 30,” pointing to paragraph 30 of the fifteenth Utah Supreme Court opinion issued in 2024, regardless of where or whether it appears in a bound book.
The appeal is obvious. Paragraph numbers travel with the opinion no matter what platform displays it, so researchers do not need star pagination or access to any particular reporter. Several states and a number of courts outside the United States have adopted some version of this approach, and the American Association of Law Libraries has long advocated for universal citation standards along these lines.
Neutral citation has not replaced reporter-based citation in most American courts. Federal courts and the majority of state courts still expect citations keyed to the printed reporter page, which means star pagination remains the working tool for anyone drafting serious legal writing. Where neutral citation is accepted, it offers a genuine alternative. Everywhere else, star pagination is the bridge between your screen and the page number a judge expects to see.