There's a connection here, I swear it. Rumor has it that Van Halen's 1982 tour rider contained a requirement that the venue provide the band with a bowl of M&Ms . . . less the brown ones. But, this wasn't an act of caprice or ego. The band tucked their M&M requirements into the portion of the contract that contained the technical specifications for stage set-up, including some relatively important aspects of their pyrotechnics show. If the band found brown M&Ms in the dressing room, they knew that the venue staff had not read the contract carefully enough to catch the M&M decree, and likely not carefully enough to catch the safety-related technical specifications of the band's stage set-up either. The M&Ms were a proxy.
The same is true of The Bluebook (and, if you're writing for a New Jersey court, the Manual on Style for Judicial Opinions). Sure, The Bluebook stands on its own as a resource for formatting citations. Certainly, The Bluebook has inherent value in its standardization of citation forms. But, is there really a difference between "Fed. R. C. P." and "F.R.C.P."?
Unfortunately for the detail-averse, yes. Like the brown M&Ms, the presence of bad Bluebook-ing is a proxy. As a former appellate clerk, I can assure you that clerks notice. A properly cited brief (along with the proper cover color and format) was a signal that the authors paid attention to detail. A poorly cited brief, on the other hand, was a signal that the authors could not be bothered with what they viewed as unimportant detail, and was highly correlated with poor citations to the record, inaccurate citations to case law, and poor arguments.
To be sure, good Bluebook-ing will not make weak arguments strong, but if you are looking to stack the odds in your favor, it cannot hurt to signal the Court early that you are a good lawyer and one the Court can trust. Who would not want to do that?
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