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Citation Stickiness, Kevin Bennardo, Alexa Z. Chew

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

This Article is an empirical study of what we call citation stickiness. A citation is sticky if it appears in one of the parties' briefs and then again in the court's opinion. Imagine that the parties use their briefs to toss citations in the court's direction. Some of those citations stick and appear in the opinion—these are the sticky citations. Some of those citations don't stick and go unmentioned by the court—these are the unsticky ones. Finally, some sources were never mentioned by the parties yet appear in the court's opinion. These authorities are endogenous—they spring from the court itself. …