Justice Sotomayor Changes “Approbation” to “Opprobrium” In Horne Dissent

June 30th, 2015

In Justice Sotomayor’s Horne dissent, she used what seemed to be the wrong word:

approbation

Approbation (approval) is the exact opposite of what she meant. I thought she meant disapprobation (disapproval).  Kevin Walsh made the same observation.

On June 23, the day after the opinion was published, SupremeCourt.gov quietly uploaded a new PDF. The word was changed to “opprobrium.” (According to SCOTUSServo).

opprobrium

Confusing approbation with opprobrium should be viewed with disapprobation.