Supreme Court examples of commas

  • There, as in “the majority of cases,” the “victim impact evidence served entirely legitimate purposes.”

    — Justice Thomas (dissenting) in THOMAS v. WHITE

    — offsetting a nonrestrictive phrase with commas; note how the main clause still makes sense without it

  • The District Court entered its judgment dismissing the case on March 23, 2020.

    — Justice Sotomayor in PARRISH v. UNITED STATES

    — showing that a comma always follows the day in complete dates

  • The Court quotes Bridge but omits the first part of the sentence.

    — Justice Kavanaugh (dissenting) in MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC. v. HORN

    — omitting the traditional comma before “but” (and between two verb clauses) to speed the sentence along

  • A Fifth Circuit Judge granted Rivers’s request in July 2020, but only as to his claim for ineffective assistance of counsel.

    — Justice Jackson in RIVERS v. GUERRERO

    — showing no comma in a date without the day and a comma to add a pause before the ending nonrestrictive clause

  • As litigated, this case does not call on us to address what weight, if any, ATF may lawfully give jigs, tools, and instructions when deciding whether a frame or receiver is present.

    — Justice Gorsuch in BONDI v. VANDERSTOK

    — using the serial comma after “tools”

  • And the Court notes that RICO does not allow suits for a single tort, but requires a “pattern of racketeering activity.”

    — Justice Kavanaugh (dissenting) in MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC. v. HORN

    — adding the traditional comma before “but” (and between two verb clauses) to slow the sentence

  • Today, however, the Court whistles past the terms Congress gave us in §924(c)(3)(A).

    — Justice Gorsuch (dissenting) in DELLIGATTI v. UNITED STATES

    — adding commas after “Today” (which marks time) and “however” (a conjunctive adverb) to show the sentence for emphasis

  • The Barring Act indisputably confers settlement authority, yet it says nothing about audits or offsets.

    — Justice Thomas in SOTO v. UNITED STATES

    — showing the unanimous practice of using a comma when combining two independent clauses with a short conjunction like “and,” “but,” or “yet.”

  • But, not all of it was so. . . . But it would then by definition be doing more than applying clearly established law.

    — Justice Thomas in ANDREW v. WHITE

    — showing that the justices often use commas after introductory words, even short ones (but not always)