Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf
Page Number: 151

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

7 

KAVANAUGH, J., dissenting 

ordinary meaning facilitates the democratic accountability
of America’s elected representatives for the laws they enact. 
Citizens and legislators must be able to ascertain the law
by reading the words of the statute.  Both the rule of law 
and  democratic  accountability  badly  suffer  when  a  court 
adopts  a  hidden  or  obscure  interpretation  of  the  law,  and 
not its ordinary meaning.

Consider a simple example of how ordinary meaning dif-
fers from literal meaning.  A statutory ban on “vehicles in 
the park” would literally encompass a baby stroller.  But no 
good judge would interpret the statute that way because the 
word “vehicle,” in its ordinary meaning, does not encompass
baby strollers.

The ordinary meaning principle is longstanding and well
settled.  Time and again, this Court has rejected literalism
in favor of ordinary meaning.  Take a few examples: 

 The Court recognized that beans may be seeds “in the
language of botany or natural history,” but concluded 
that beans are not seeds “in commerce” or “in common 
parlance.”  Robertson v. Salomon, 130 U. S. 412, 414 
(1889). 

 The  Court  explained  that  tomatoes  are  literally  “the
fruit  of  a  vine,”  but  “in  the  common  language  of  the
people,” tomatoes are vegetables.  Nix v. Hedden, 149 
U. S. 304, 307 (1893). 

 The Court stated that the statutory term “vehicle” does 
not  cover  an  aircraft:  “No  doubt  etymologically  it  is
possible to use the word to signify a conveyance work-
ing on land, water or air . . . .  But in everyday speech
‘vehicle’ calls up the picture of a thing moving on land.” 
McBoyle v. United States, 283 U. S. 25, 26 (1931). 
 The Court pointed out that “this Court’s interpretation
of the three-judge-court statutes has frequently devi-
ated  from  the  path  of  literalism.”    Gonzalez  v.  Auto-
matic Employees Credit Union, 419 U. S. 90, 96 (1974).