Are bloggers way overreacting? Kagan's use of 'way' as an adverb gets noticed
Justice Elena Kagan.
Did Justice Elena Kagan make history when she used “way” as an adverb in an opinion this week?
Kagan wrote (PDF) that pharmaceutical company Omnicare “way overstates” a mandated congressional inquiry, sending bloggers to legal databases for other uses of “way” as an adverb.
University of California at Los Angeles law professor Eugene Volokh says the phrase “way overstates” has never been used in a published U.S. court opinion in the past. Commenters at the Vokokh Conspiracy pointed to other judicial uses of “way” as an adverb, including “way overreacted” in a 1998 federal court opinion.
Lowering the Bar found another opinion (PDF) dating to 1992, soon after release of the movie Wayne’s World, that found attempted removal of a case to federal court was “most bogus” and ” ‘way’ improvident.”
Related article:
ABAJournal.com: “Misleading corporate statements of opinion can be basis for investor suits, Supreme Court says”