Subject: ABA Citation Resolution
   Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 16:53:25 -0500
   From: Michael Chui <mchui@cs.indiana.edu>
     To: citation@teo.uscourts.gov

     I strongly urge the members of the U.S. Judicial Conference to 
adopt the recommendation of the American Bar Association to create a 
universal citation system using sequential decision numbers for each 
year and internal paragraph numbers within the decision.

     As the Executive Director of a community network, whose goals 
include the widespread dissemination of information to the public, I 
believe that a vital public information resource such as the opinions 
of the courts of our land should be made available such that they may 
be freely cited using a system in the public domain.

     Given that most opinions are composed on word processors, 
numbering opinions and paragraphs is a task that should be quite 
simple to automate, and hence, cost very little.

                                   Michael Chui
                                   mchui@cs.indiana.edu