![handle is hein.journals/jspcth26 and id is 1 raw text is:
Citators Beware: Stylistic Variations
in Different Publishers' Versions of
Early Supreme Court Opinions
JON 0. NEWMAN
It has been generally known that early Supreme Court opinions as published in the United
States Reports do not always accurately reflect the words of the Justices' opinions.I Of far less
moment, but nevertheless an historical curiosity that should interest judges and lawyers who
cite these opinions, is the fact that slight variations exist among the published versions of the
same opinions, depending upon the identity of the publisher. The variations I have noticed are
all only stylistic. However, it is possible that some variations, yet to be noticed, are substantive.
The annotator of one version of the early reports, no less an authority than Associate Justice
Curtis, acknowledged that his annotated set of the early reports has correct[ed] such errors of
press, or of citation, as a careful examination of the text has disclosed.2
1. Discovering the Variations
I first became aware of this curious aspect of
Supreme Court history when I was alerted to a
minor discrepancy between two published
versions of United States v. Ferreira, 54 U.S.
(13 How.) 40 (1852). In preparing an opinion
for a panel of the Second Circuit in Lo Duca v.
United States, 93 F.3d 1100 (2d Cir. 1996), I
cited a passage from Ferreira. When the draft
opinion was circulated to the panel, one of
Judge Kearse's characteristically meticulous
law clerks, Rochelle Shoretz, called to my at-
tention what she thought was an error in my
rendering of the quotation from Ferreira. I
had not capitalized constitution, and she
thought the Supreme Court's opinion had
done so. The word appears on page 48 of vol-
ume 13 of Howard's Reports (originally cited
as 13 How., later cited as 13 How. (54
U.S.), and more recently as 54 U.S. (13
How.)).3 I checked volume 54 of the United
States Reports (13 Howard) in my chambers
and confirmed my version (constitution).
She checked hers and confirmed her version
(Constitution). I then asked what the title
page of her volume revealed and learned that
her volume 54 (13 Howard) was published by](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jspcth26&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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