Just Ask a Lawyer or Law Librarian, Please!

Both the Oregonian AND the City of Portland got the name of the court wrong (or wonky) in this federal court case, City of Portland v. EPA. I expect this from one, but not from the other (and no I’m not going to say which).

There is no “District Court of Appeals” and the Oregonian story just weaseled out of precision (and accuracy) by referring to “the” Court of Appeals, of which there is no such thing. The definite article does not belong to any one U.S. Court of Appeals. There are 13 of them, so either say, “a” U.S. Court of Appeals or identify WHICH U.S. Court of Appeals you are referring to.

In this case, City of Portland v. EPA, it was the U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE D.C. CIRCUIT that issued this opinion (and you could know that by looking at page 1 of the case).

I could moan about the demise of fact-checking, but know it’s too late and one must move on. I’ll channel my inner Pollyanna for the rest of the day. Sigh.