The Practice

What judges really think about the phrase ‘May it please the Court?’

It is often said that May it please the Court is an obligatory phrase at the outset of an oral argument—and that any other opener suggests the oral advocate is unknowledgeable or inexperienced. But is that so? Does the phrase really so please the courts that its absence displeases? I…

Apr 1, 2013 7:58 AM CDT

Argument Talk: Tips for Litigators on Raising, Answering and Dropping Points

In high school and college debate, an opponent’s argument that goes unresponded to—a “dropped argument”—is judged as conceded. Hence in a scholastic debate, one common strategy is to spread the argument: Debaters will fire off quick points at motor-mouth speed in hopes that the opponent won’t be able to respond…

Jan 1, 2013 8:50 AM CST

What’s an Error in Language?

What constitutes a language error? Interesting question—and one that lawyers, as professional rhetoricians, should have a keen interest in. It plunges us straightaway (should that be straightway?) into the middle of what the late David Foster Wallace, in his collection of essays Consider the Lobster (2006), called “the seamy underbelly…

Dec 1, 2012 9:09 AM CST

A Text on Textualism, Part 2: Garner and Scalia Offer More Outtakes from Their Latest Collaboration

In the previous column, I gave you questions 1–12 of the “Selected Exercises” that Justice Antonin Scalia and I prepared for (but omitted from) our book Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts. Now you have the remainder of the quiz: questions 13–25. The idea isn’t to suggest that all…

Nov 1, 2012 7:50 AM CDT

Outtakes from a Treatise: Garner and Scalia Present a Quiz on Textualism: Part 1 of 2

We’re all textualists, to one degree or another. That is, when it comes to statutory or contractual interpretation, everyone—even the most ardent “purposivist” or “consequentialist”—says that we must begin with the words of the text. We look at the controlling words, we study their grammatical relationships, and we consider the…

Oct 1, 2012 7:20 AM CDT

Kagan’s Teachers: 9th Justice Talks About Her Influences in Writing, Reading and Reasoning

Last year, I had the opportunity to interview Justice Elena Kagan, the ninth justice I have interviewed at length about writing. The session took place at 4 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2011, a few hours before she and her colleagues were to hold a banquet honoring Justice Antonin Scalia for…

Sep 1, 2012 7:50 AM CDT

Shall We Abandon Shall?

In March 1968 I was a fourth-grader at Rex Reeves Elementary School in Canyon, Texas, a small college town in the Panhandle. My teacher, the beloved Mrs. Pearcy, had a not-beloved student teacher, Mrs. Phillips, who was seeking her teacher certification. Mrs. Phillips, I realized early on, was not partial…

Aug 1, 2012 7:20 AM CDT

The Toughest Call

Lawyer’s life changed when he decided to keep a client’s confession confidential

Aug 1, 2007 8:34 AM CDT

What judges really think about the phrase ‘May it please the Court?’

Argument Talk: Tips for Litigators on Raising, Answering and Dropping Points

What’s an Error in Language?

A Text on Textualism, Part 2: Garner and Scalia Offer More Outtakes from Their Latest Collaboration

Outtakes from a Treatise: Garner and Scalia Present a Quiz on Textualism: Part 1 of 2

Kagan’s Teachers: 9th Justice Talks About Her Influences in Writing, Reading and Reasoning

Shall We Abandon Shall?

The Toughest Call

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