Obsessive Over the Possessive on the Supreme Court of the United States: Exploring SCOTUS’/SCOTUS’s Use of Possessive Apostrophes

Abstract

U.S. Supreme Court justices often use apostrophes in their written opinions. This is not without controversy because when a noun ends in an s and is then used in the possessive form one could either denote it with one s -- Justice Thomas' argument -- or with two s's -- Justice Thomas's argument. Grammar and legal experts alike disagree on the one or two s rule. And, while justices themselves use both forms, we empirically test which is the most prevalent usage over the past seven decades. Our findings indicate that the Court's precedent sides with the single s for possessives.