Miss-named?

I've never seen a serious public document refer to anyone by "Miss" in decades. Technically correct, I though this went out of style quite a while back, at least when refering to anyone over the age of 18.


Was Miss Miers’ corporate practice primarily transactional (contract writing and negotiations) or was it primarily litigation? How many of her cases involved constitutional issues? What were the issues? Did Miss Miers do most of the research and writing herself? Has she argued constitutional issues before a court? How many times? In what courts? In how many did she prevail? Are there any published opinions? If so, what are the case names and citations?

To which of the Founders was Miss Miers referring in her acceptance statement, and why?

What did Miss Miers mean when she promised to keep our judicial system strong and what would she do to accomplish that commitment?

Does Miss Miers believe that the Declaration of Independence is important to understanding the U.S. Constitution?

What do the style books say?
The American Heritage® Book of English Usage says:

Many of us think of Ms. or Ms as a very recent invention of the women’s movement, but in fact the term was first suggested as a convenience to writers of business letters by such publications as the Bulletin of the American Business Writing Association (1951) and The Simplified Letter, issued by the National Office Management Association (1952). Along with many others, champions of women’s rights saw the virtues of the term and soon advocated its use in more general contexts, as is evidenced by the founding of Ms. magazine in 1972.
1 The form Ms. or Ms is now widely used in both professional and social contexts. Thus the term stands as a highly successful language reform—probably because people value its usefulness. As a courtesy title, Ms. serves exactly the same function as Mr. does for men, and like Mr. it may be used with a last name alone or with a full name: Ms. Pemberton; Ms. Miriam E. Pemberton.
2 Using Ms. obviates the need for the guesswork involved in figuring out whether to address someone as Mrs. or Miss: you can’t go wrong with Ms. Whether the woman you are addressing is married or unmarried, has changed her name or not, Ms. is always correct. And the beauty of Ms. is that this information becomes irrelevant, as it should be—and as it has always been for men.
3 Of course, some women may indicate that they prefer to use the title Miss or Mrs., and in these cases it only makes sense to follow their wishes.

So it could be her wish to be called Miss.

What's Wiki say?

Miss can be used in direct address to a woman, for example, May I help you, miss? Some women consider this disrespectful and prefer ma'am. In the United Kingdom, Miss is often used to address female teachers without using their name, regardless of marital status.

Miss was formerly the default title for a businesswoman. It was (and to some extent remains) also a default title for celebrities, such as actresses. (The poet Dorothy Parker was often referred to as Miss Parker, even though Parker was the name of her first husband and she herself preferred Mrs. Parker.)

Another notable use of Miss is as the title of a beauty queen, such as Miss America, Miss World, or Miss Congeniality.

So the choices seem to be preferred (possible), a teacher (no), a businesswoman (seems a stretch) or a beauty queen (unknown, but maybe we'll find out during the confirmation hearings).

Interesting.