Meanwhile, the affiliates— which, recall, he also owns—have racked up tens of millions of dollars in profit.

— Justice Kagan in DEWBERRY GROUP, INC. v. DEWBERRY ENGINEERS INC.

— using the double em-dash to emphasize a clause mid-sentence

So the Court’s reasoning is at the least under-developed, and very possibly wrong.

— Justice Kagan (dissenting) in DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION v. CALIFORNIA

— using a hyphen to create a compound word

And there will of course be good-faith disagreements about when that is called for.

— Justice Kagan (dissenting) in DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION v. CALIFORNIA

— using a hyphen to create a compound modifier

By contrast, reinstating the challenged grant-termination policy will inflict significant harm on grantees—a fact that the Government barely contests.

— Justice Jackson (dissenting) in DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION v. CALIFORNIA

— adding a hyphen between “grant” and “termination” to create the compound modifier for “policy” and a single em-dash to end the sentence

Congress dictated that SEED grants “shall be” awarded for up to a 3-year period, subject to a possible 2-year extension. §§6672(b)(1)–(2).

— Justice Jackson (dissenting) in DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION v. CALIFORNIA

— showing the tiny hyphen separating the compound modifiers “3-year” and “2-year” and the longer en-dash separating the range of the statutory sections 1 and 2

With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces “colorblindness for all” by legal fiat.

— Justice Jackson (dissenting) in STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE

— creating an impressive—and memorable—four-word compound modifier for obliviousness

(If that sentence is confusing— too darn many Dewberrys—it is also a good illustration of why trademarks exist: to prevent consumers from being confused about which company is providing a product or service.)

— Justice Kagan in DEWBERRY GROUP, INC. v. DEWBERRY ENGINEERS INC.

— showing the contrast between parentheses (which whisper an aside) and em-dashes, which emphasize a quick aside

Specifically, the FDA held respondents had not provided evidence from a randomized controlled trial, longitudinal cohort study, or another “reliabl[e] and robus[t]” method showing that their dessert-, candy-, and fruit-flavored products had benefits “over an appropriate comparator tobacco-flavored” product.

— Justice Alito in FDA v. WAGES AND WHITE LION INVESTMENTS, LLC

— showing how a floating hyphen can slightly shorten a phrase: dessert-flavored, candy-flavored, and fruit-flavored

And a gun that is fully operable, save for a frame missing a single and easily-added screw, would surely fit that description.

— Justice Gorsuch in BONDI v. VANDERSTOK

— showing that for readability, the justices sometimes ignore the traditional rule that a hyphen should not follow a word ending in “-ly”; the modifying purpose of a word ending in “-ly” is often clear (think “deliberately withheld,” “severely injured,” or “reasonably believed”) so a hyphen is unnecessary