I came across this usage in excerpts from the dissent by Justice Kagan to the US Supreme Court’s decision [see image I will attempt to attach, that I snagged from here: https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2023/06/john-roberts-demonstrates-a-justified-lack-of-confidence-in-his-arrogation-of-congressional-and-presidential-authority]. I’m going to guess that it indicates a tense change, so like in my example in the post title maybe the quote was “asked you” and I changed it to “ask[ ] you” to fit my sentence. I went to a lot of schooling but I don’t recall this empty brackets usage. I figure, why not Ask Kbin!

  • readbeanicecream@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    @RMiddleton Yep. Means the author removed a letter from the word. So in the image above the author removed a d or s from the word waive. It just helps the quote make sense in context of the passage.

    • Drusas@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      It’s worth noting that this is nothing to do with legal writing in particular. You’ll find this in all academic writing as well, and in journalism.

      • RMiddleton@kbin.socialOP
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        1 year ago

        For some reason I have never noticed this before, or else I have just forgotten it in the 3 decades since I was in college.