About That Black's Law Dictionary Definition of Facilities Cited by ... - Election Law Blog - Dictionary

In my earlier post on Justice Alito’s laughable defense that he did not have to report the free ride on the private plane because it was “hospitality … on …facilities” owned by a person, I noted that one of the sources Alito cited was Black’s Law Dictionary. (The relevant part of Alito’s discussion: “Legal usage is similar. Black’s Law Dictionary has explained that the term ‘facilities’ may mean ‘everything necessary for the convenience of passengers.'”) I noted that I could not find it in the current version of Black’s Law Dictionary.

But now, via a 1911 Supreme Court of Oklahoma case, I found the relevant citation in Volume 19, Page 106 of a 1905 treatise, the Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure. The section provides a number of definitions of “facilities,” including the part that Justice Alito only partially quoted: “Applied to railroads it means everything necessary for the convenience of passengers and the safety and prompt transportation of freight.”

Here’s the full discussion of “facilities” in the Cyclopedia, and a mighty thin reed to hang Justice Alito’s hat on that he could ride on a private jet of a billionaire litigant without reporting it, particularly when the statute itself allows only an exception for personal provision of “food, lodging, or entertainment:”

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