‣ [ The prohibited material ] also includes videos of dogfights , hogdog fights , and cockfights — bloody spectacles of vicious animals forced to fight to the point of exhaustion or death . 9
‣ The government cannot suspend the First Amendment just because the conduct depicted is illegal — somewhere . 10
Another example of using an em dash at the end to highlight the material that follows , focus the reader ’ s attention , and stress a point , comes from Chief Justice John Roberts in the landmark decision Riley v . California :
‣ Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple — get a warrant . 11
But the em dash need not be alone on its quest to persuade . A pair of em dashes in midsentence can emphatically explain or emphasize the enclosed text . While parentheses tend to minimize what they enclose , em dashes emphasize it . They do so by creating a visual pause in the sentence that demands the reader ’ s attention . Here is
Chief Justice John Roberts again using this technique effectively in United States v . Stevens :
‣ The only thing standing between defendants who sell [ animal cruelty ] depictions and five years in federal prison — other than the mercy of a prosecutor — is the statute ' s exceptions clause . 12
And here is Justice Elena Kagan using both techniques , consecutively — a single em dash at the end and a pair of em dashes in midsentence — to explain and emphasize the contacts requirements for specific jurisdiction :
‣ [ The contacts ] must show that the defendant deliberately “ reached out beyond ” its home — by , for example , “ exploiting a market ” in the forum State or entering a contractual relationship centered there . ( citations omitted ). Yet even then — because the defendant is not “ at home ”— the forum State may exercise jurisdiction in only certain cases . 13
So , the next time you want to add a dash of style to your legal document , dare to be dashing and make your point with punctuation !
1 . Merriam Webster Dictionary , A Guide to Em Dashes , En Dashes , and Hyphens , available at https :// www . merriam-webster . com / words-at-play / em-dash-en-dash-how-to-use ( last visited Dec . 21 , 2022 ). 2 . Bryan A . Garner , THE REDBOOK : A MANUAL ON LEGAL STYLE 44 ( 3d ed . 2013 ). 3 . Id . 4 . Id . 5 . Id . at 42 . 6 . Matthew Butterick , TYPOGRAPHY FOR LAWYERS 49 ( 2010 ).
7 . Noah Lukeman , A DASH OF STYLE : THE ART AND MASTERY OF
PUNCTUATION 15 ( 2006 ). 8 . 559 U . S . 460 ( 2010 ). 9 . Id . Pet ’ r ’ s Br . at 8 . 10 . Id . Respondent ’ s Br . at 34 . 11 . Riley v . California , 573 U . S . 373 , 403 ( 2014 ). 12 . Stevens , 559 U . S . at 477 . 13 . Ford Motor Co . v . Mont . Eighth Jud . Dist . Ct ., 141 S . Ct . 1017 , 1025 ( 2021 ).
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