Word count: 100-150. In the chapter excerpt “Lenity and the Scope of Adverbs “, Solan discusses how structural ambiguity was at the heart of the court case United States v Yermian (1984). Using concepts from the lecture and the reading, briefly respond to the following questions:
What is the possible structural ambiguity in this case?
What was Yermian’s defense? (How did he want the jury to interpret the Criminal Code?)
What did the Supreme Court decide? (How did they interpret the Criminal Code?)