The late Justice Antonin Scalia was not on the bench Tuesday morning as the U.S. Supreme Court wrestled with a difficult statutory interpretation puzzle. But his influence was felt as his former writing partner, attorney and lexicographer Bryan Garner, used their book and interpretive tools to make an argument against Facebook.

The hour-plus argument in the case Facebook v. Duguid was peppered with references to ordinary rules of grammar and interpretive canons such as the conjunctive/disjunctive canon, surplusage canon and the harmonious reading canon. And Garner may even have introduced for the first time in an argument the adjective “viperine” to describe the consequence of his opponent’s argument.

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