11.6.2 Citations and Emphatic Text: Underlining, Italics, Boldfaced Type, and CAPITALIZATION
Both the ALWD Citation Manual and the Bluebook allow the writer to choose between underlining and italics when citing cases and other titles. Although both underlining and italics have the same meaning vis-à-vis citation form, they are not equal.
Both italics and underline distinguish text for a reader, but underlined text is more visible to the user: It can be seen with only a quick glance at the page, while italics usually take longer to notice. Try flipping through this textbook, which uses many examples with underlined citations, and note how the underlining jumps out at the eye. Even if you cannot read the words immediately, the underlining catches your eye and draws it to the underlined words. A busy judge or a clerk who is looking for your analysis of a particular case may have an easier time finding that discussion if you use underlining instead of italics to designate case names and other titles.22Whether you use underlining or italics for citation form, you should be consistent throughout all of your citations and all of the parts of your citations. For example, don’t use italics for signal words but underlining for case names:
BAD EXAMPLE See, e.g., Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83, 89 (1998). 
GOOD EXAMPLES See, e.g., Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83, 89 (1998). See, e.g., Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83, 89 (1998).
On the other hand, you may decide to use underlining for citations, but to use italics and boldfaced type as needed for emphasis (use bold for emphasis very rarely). This suggestion is somewhat radical; many readers expect a document to contain underlined words or italicized words, but not both. I believe, however, that this expectation is a mistaken carryover from the rule that underlining or italics should be used consistently in all citations.
As a practical matter, you should use the graphic technique that will help the reader understand your point with minimal distraction. Boldfaced type and underlining provide the strongest emphasis; you will distract your reader if you use these methods to emphasize words that should receive only slight emphasis. Of course, as with many writing techniques, too little is better than too much. If you emphasize too many words, even with the subtle emphasis of italics, you will distract or annoy your reader and lose the benefit of the emphasis. Furthermore, studies show that underlining and italics each slow the reader’s speed slightly.23If you emphasize only a few words or perhaps a line of text here and there, a minor slowdown will not be a problem. Too-frequent use of emphatic techniques, however, can slow the reader’s progress too much.Boldfaced type should almost always be reserved for headings alone. On extremely rare occasions, however, you may use boldfaced type for emphasis within your text. For example, if you have decided to include a long quotation of the text of a statute, you may be worried that your reader will skip the quotation. In that situation, italics would do little to show the reader the significant statutory language:
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BAD EXAMPLE Section 1409(c) gives immediate citizenship to a foreign-born child of unmarried parents if the child’s mother is a United States citizen at the time of birth:
Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a) of this provision [which requires fathers to meet certain requirements to establish the citizenship of their children], a person born, after December 23, 1952, outside the United States and out of wedlock shall be held to have acquired at birth the nationality status of the mother, if the mother had the nationality of the United States at the time of such person’s birth, and if the mother had previously been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year.
8 U.S.C.
§ 1409(c) (1994) (emphasis added).If you use underlining or boldfaced type for the most crucial language in the statute, however, readers can glance at the quotation and easily read just the emphasized language as a coherent piece of text:
GOOD EXAMPLES Section 1409(c) gives immediate citizenship to a foreign-born child of unmarried parents if the child’s mother is a United States citizen at the time of birth:
Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a) of this provision [which requires fathers to meet certain requirements to establish the citizenship of their children], a person born, after December 23, 1952, outside the United States and out of wedlock shall be held to have acquired at birth the nationality status of the mother, if the mother had the nationality of the United States at the time of such person’s birth, and if the mother had previously been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year.
8 U.S.C. § 1409(c) (1994) (emphasis added). Section 1409(c) gives immediate citizenship to a foreign-born child of unmarried parents if the child’s mother is a United States citizen at the time of birth:
Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a) of this provision [which requires fathers to meet certain requirements to establish the citizenship of their children], a person born, after December 23, 1952, outside the United States and out of wedlock shall be held to have acquired at birth the nationality status of the mother, if the mother had the nationality of the United States at the time of such person’s birth, and if the mother had previously been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year.
8 U.S.C. § 1409(c) (1994) (emphasis added).
As these examples show, this technique can be used to allow the reader to read a complete phrase or clause without being distracted by language that is irrelevant to the issue under discussion.24
Finally, a word about using all capital letters for emphasis: Don’t.
In fact, unless court rules require it, you can write a very effective brief without ever using any words in all capital letters. Words written entirely in capital letters are more difficult to read; some studies indicate that we read lowercase text 5 to 10 percent faster than we do all-caps text.25 Recent scholarship indicates that capital letters slow reading speed because of the typical reading style of sweeping over a few words at a time, and seeing only a few letters clearly with our direct vision. We see the rest of the letters with our peripheral vision, which is blurred, and which can distinguish small letters, with their varying shapes, much more easily than it can distinguish capital letters.26Of course, many writers use all capital letters to designate element headings such as “SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT” or “QUESTIONS PRESENTED.” Most readers can tolerate this use reasonably well, but writing more than a few words in all capital letters will usually drive the reader to a new paragraph. Likewise, placing two- or three-line point headings in all caps almost guarantees that the reader will skip the headings.27