Grammer Wars At The Supreme Court

While my English grammer and certainly spelling is far from perfect-very far, I often tell my students that in law every comma counts. A November 8, 2007 Legal Times article by Tony Mauro entitled "A Question of Commas in D.C. Gun Case. Period." echos this point. It previews an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case that may hinge on the meaning where commas were placed in the Second Amendment. As the article states: 

When Supreme Court justices sit down Friday to ponder whether they should rule on the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.'s strict gun control ordinance, they should be forewarned that they are stepping into a quagmire.

No, not the political quagmire over gun control. Another suddenly intense debate is enveloping the case -- this one over what all those commas in the Second Amendment meant in late 18th-century America.

It may sound way beyond trivial, but it's not: The grammar war is under way.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein