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Best of the Worst Typos in the Law

By William Vogeler, Esq. on August 15, 2018 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

You shouldn't really point out others' mistakes if you make bigger ones.

Jesus said something like that -- something about splinters and beams. In sinners' words, don't poke people in the eye.

But in law and blogging, we get paid to accentuate mistakes -- even little, tiny typos. Here are some of best of the worst.

Supreme Typos

The legal pedestal gets no higher than the U.S. Supreme Court. Critics, however, can take potshots from the peanut gallery.

So they pointed out some typos in recent opinions. They included:

  • "painter's palate"
  • "lassez-faire"
  • "Piggy Park"

To be fair, "Piggy" was a name misspelling. But some mistakes went beyond the boundaries of typos, like Justice Anthony Kennedy mixing up Paraguay and Peru.

Presidential Typos

Everybody knows that President Trump can't spell. Or maybe he just invents words, like "covfeve." Or perhaps it's a new legal position, like "special council."

Here are few more this year:

Trump is not a lawyer, but he can make laws with a pen stroke. So he is fair game for the worst typo type ever -- especially since he misspelled his wife's name.

Among lawyers, Above the Law found "The Most Embarrassing Typo in a Lawyer Letter, Ever." We can't print it, but let's just say Jesus would not approve.

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