The strange case of the superfluous sentence

Authors

• Jeffrey Kahn, American University Washington College of LawFollow
• Stephen Wermiel, American University Washington College of LawFollow

Streaming Media

Abstract

Some sentences reproach without a single accusatory word. “The captain was sober today” impugns by implication. The officer who logs this superfluous statement damns the captain further with the surrounding entries that omit it.

Here’s another: “The denial of the application is not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation.”  That’s a new one for us, though collectively we’ve been studying and teaching about the U.S. Supreme Court for 40 years.

External Links

https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/09/the-strange-case-of-the-superfluous-sentence/

Source Publication

SCOTUSblog

Repository Citation

Jeffrey Kahn & Stephen Wermiel, The strange case of the superfluous sentence, SCOTUSblog (2025).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/pub_disc_media/641