Assistant to SG Teaches Chief Justice a New Word

Today's oral argument in United States v. Hayes was dense with debate over rules of grammar and statutory interpretation, all aimed at figuring out what Congress meant when it passed a statute in 1996 that expanded the scope of a law that makes it a crime for those convicted of felonies to possess a firearm. Just how far the new law went to include those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors was the subject of the day, and by the end of the hour it was harder to predict the outcome than it was at the beginning.

One bright spot in the colloquy came during Assistant to the Solicitor General Nicole Saharsky's defense of an expansive view of the law. In discussing the statute at issue, 18 U.S.C. 922 (a)(33)(A)(i) and (ii), justices had been referring, awkwardly, to sections "little eye" and "little eye eye." But Saharsky had a far better way. She called them "Romanette one and two," using an obscure but self-explaining and almost whimsical term for a lower-case Roman numeral.

"Romanette?" asked Chief Justice John Roberts quizzically. 

"Oh, little Roman numeral," Saharsky replied offhandedly. No biggie.

"I've never heard that before!" said Roberts. "That's ... Romanette." 

In all his days in the solicitor general's office and in private practice, Roberts had apparently never run across the term. The audience laughed -- including many, to be sure, who had never heard the word before themselves. Chief justices, along with everyone else, can learn something new every day.