A contrary result would not only “subvert congressional design,” it would also make little sense.

— Justice Sotomayor in PARRISH v. UNITED STATES

— showing that commas always belong inside quotation marks

That means the law survives if, but only if, its sex-based classifications are “substantially related to the achievement” of “important governmental objectives.”

— Justice Kagan (dissenting) in UNITED STATES v. SKRMETTI

— showing periods always belong inside the quotation marks

But it is “quite mistaken to assume . . . that any interpretation of a law that does more to advance a statute’s putative goal must be the law.”

— Justice Gorsuch in STANLEY v. CITY OF SANFORD

— using an ellipsis to show an omission in the middle of a quotation

Notice, too, what the Court has to say about the agency’s past practices: “[T]here are about 10 privately owned storage sites where there are no active nuclear reactors.”

— Justice Gorsuch (dissenting) in NRC v. TEXAS

— showing that in the original quote, “there” is lowercase by adding brackets around the capital “T”

Yegiazaryan urged us to rely on “common-law principles governing ‘the situs’” of economic and property injuries. In his view, these principles established a “bright-line rule”: An injury is located at the plaintiff ’s domicile.

— Justice Barrett in MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC. v. HORN

— showing single quotation marks around “the situs” within the main quote

But the majority also admits that the point of Medicare’s disproportionate-share formula is to identify “‘hospitals serving an “unusually high percentage of low-income patients.”’”

— Justice Jackson (dissenting) in ADVOCATE CHRIST MEDICAL CENTER v. KENNEDY

— showing the very rare quote within a quote within a quote, with a double-single-double quotation mark style

As happened in one recent federal trial, the jury could hear a prosecutor’s closing argument begin: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this defendant, a gun toting, drug slinging three time convicted felon . . . .”

— Justice Kavanaugh (dissenting) in ERLINGER v. UNITED STATES

— using an ellipsis plus a period (so four dots) to show an omission at the end the sentence

Section 1964(c) provides that “[a]ny person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation of [RICO] may sue. . . .”

— Justice Barrett in MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC. v. HORN

— using an ellipsis plus a period where the first dot touches the last word, indicating that the word “sue” ended the original sentence (compare this to the previous four-dot ellipsis example)

“[T]he fact the line might have been drawn differently at some points is a matter for legislative, rather than judicial, consideration.”

— Chief Justice Roberts in UNITED STATES v. SKRMETTI

— showing an ellipsis never belongs at the start of a quotation and instead using brackets around the capital “T” to signal the sentence didn’t originally begin there

Rather, it followed through on the 2020 guidance’s warning that the agency would also prioritize enforcement against manufacturers “whose [products’] marketing is likely to promote use by . . . minors.”

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

—using brackets to show the addition of “products” and an ellipsis to show an omission in the middle of a quote

Respondent’s textual argument thus flouts a “fundamental canon of statutory construction”: that “the words of a statute must be read in their context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory scheme.”

— Justice Jackson in UNITED STATES v. MILLER

— showing that a colon belongs outside of the quotation marks unless part of the original quote

Early courts routinely applied law-of-nations principles under which personal jurisdiction was “typically a problem in recognition”; that is, “[t]he question for American courts was whether [foreign] judgments would be recognized and enforced.”

— Justice Thomas (concurring) in FULD v. PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION

— showing a variety of techniques, adding brackets around “foreign” to indicate its addition to the quote and around the lowercase “t” to indicate that word was capitalized originally