diff --git a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelMessage.java b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelMessage.java
index 14f0bfb9b9..23d616e1bc 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelMessage.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelMessage.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2012 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ public enum SpelMessage {
 	MISSING_ARRAY_DIMENSION(Kind.ERROR, 1063, "A required array dimension has not been specified"), //
 	INITIALIZER_LENGTH_INCORRECT(
 			Kind.ERROR, 1064, "array initializer size does not match array dimensions"), //
+	UNEXPECTED_ESCAPE_CHAR(Kind.ERROR,1065,"unexpected escape character.");
 	;
 
 	private Kind kind;
diff --git a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/StringLiteral.java b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/StringLiteral.java
index 2e3ff12dc4..efcd829726 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/StringLiteral.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/StringLiteral.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2012 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ public class StringLiteral extends Literal {
 		super(payload,pos);
 		// TODO should these have been skipped being created by the parser rules? or not?
 		value = value.substring(1, value.length() - 1);
-		this.value = new TypedValue(value.replaceAll("''", "'"));
+		this.value = new TypedValue(value.replaceAll("''", "'").replaceAll("\"\"", "\""));
 	}
 
 	@Override
diff --git a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java
index 5471e4c5fc..0654fbe3eb 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java
@@ -199,6 +199,8 @@ class Tokenizer {
 					// hit sentinel at end of value
 					pos++; // will take us to the end
 					break;
+				case '\\':
+					throw new InternalParseException(new SpelParseException(expressionString,pos,SpelMessage.UNEXPECTED_ESCAPE_CHAR));
 				default:
 					throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot handle ("+Integer.valueOf(ch)+") '"+ch+"'");
 				}
@@ -241,7 +243,12 @@ class Tokenizer {
 			pos++;
 			char ch = toProcess[pos];
 			if (ch=='"') {
-				terminated = true; 
+				// may not be the end if the char after is also a "
+				if (toProcess[pos+1]=='"') {
+					pos++; // skip over that too, and continue
+				} else {
+					terminated = true;
+				}
 			}
 			if (ch==0) {
 				throw new InternalParseException(new SpelParseException(expressionString,start,SpelMessage.NON_TERMINATING_DOUBLE_QUOTED_STRING));
diff --git a/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/SpelParserTests.java b/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/SpelParserTests.java
index 3ee78dbd81..66552f4ad4 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/SpelParserTests.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/SpelParserTests.java
@@ -261,6 +261,25 @@ public class SpelParserTests {
 		assertEquals("ho", expr.getValue());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testStringLiterals_DoubleQuotes_spr9620() throws Exception {
+		SpelExpression expr = new SpelExpressionParser().parseRaw("\"double quote: \"\".\"");
+		assertEquals("double quote: \".", expr.getValue());
+		expr = new SpelExpressionParser().parseRaw("\"hello \"\" world\"");
+		assertEquals("hello \" world", expr.getValue());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testStringLiterals_DoubleQuotes_spr9620_2() throws Exception {
+		try {
+			new SpelExpressionParser().parseRaw("\"double quote: \\\"\\\".\"");
+			fail("Should have failed");
+		} catch (SpelParseException spe) {
+			assertEquals(17, spe.getPosition());
+			assertEquals(SpelMessage.UNEXPECTED_ESCAPE_CHAR, spe.getMessageCode());
+		}
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void positionalInformation() throws EvaluationException, ParseException {
 		SpelExpression expr = new SpelExpressionParser().parseRaw("true and true or false");
diff --git a/src/dist/changelog.txt b/src/dist/changelog.txt
index 69c7f0decc..fcee310f59 100644
--- a/src/dist/changelog.txt
+++ b/src/dist/changelog.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Changes in version 3.2 M2 (2012-08-xx)
 * now inferring return type of generic factory methods (SPR-9493)
 * SpEL now supports method invocations on integers (SPR-9612)
 * SpEL now supports symbolic boolean operators for OR and AND (SPR-9614)
+* SpEL now supports nested double quotes in expressions (SPR-9620)
 * introduced support for case-insensitive null literals in SpEL expressions (SPR-9613)
 * now using BufferedInputStream in SimpleMetaDataReader to double performance (SPR-9528)
 * introduced "repeatCount" property in Quartz SimpleTriggerFactoryBean (SPR-9521)