14 June 2011
The New York Times has an article on how the US Supreme Court is using dictionaries more than ever in formulating their decisions.
I’m not sure that I agree with Jesse Sheidlower’s nearly categorical assessment that this is a bad thing. While the trend is disturbing and the justices do not appear to have a good grasp on exactly what a dictionary can be reliably used for, there are situations where its use would be appropriate. I can envision instances where a judge might want to look to see if a common word had particular connotations or nuances that might impact the meaning, and there is the use of historical dictionaries to understand what previous generations may have been trying to say. Still, I heartily agree that the words in most pieces of legislation are not amenable to decoding using the dictionary.
