Rhetorical Questions as Argumentative Devices in U.S. Supreme Court Dissenting Opinions

Eichhorn, Lisa (2024)

Article / Letter to editor

This paper analyzes rhetorical questions as argumentative devices in U.S. Supreme Court dissenting opinions from the October 2021 Term Year. The author creates a taxonomy based on question function. The author also notes that most guides to legal writing caution attorneys to avoid rhetorical questions in briefs, and this paper therefore examines why U.S. Justices, when arguing in dissent, frequently use a rhetorical device that is generally disparaged by legal writing experts.

• argumentative devices
• argumentative style
• dissenting opinions
• legal argumentation
• rhetorical questions

• All authors: Eichhorn, Lisa
• Editor(s): Boogaart, Ronny; Garssen, Bart; Jansen, Henrike; Van Leeuwen, Maarten; Pilgram, Roosmaryn; Reuneker, Alex
• Date: 2024
• Journal: Proceedings of the Tenth Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation
• Pages: 265 - 275
• Conference: 10th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (ISSA 2023)
• Date: 2023-07-04 - 2023-07-07
• Location: Leiden, The Netherlands