By Eric Segall
The summer heat is about to be over
Now the Justices start a brand new year
My forecast is for another term quite bleak
These important cases will be argued in the dark
But we will just have to wait and see
The summer heat is about to be over
Now the Justices start a brand new year
My forecast is for another term quite bleak
These important cases will be argued in the dark
But we will just have to wait and see
Soon will come the first
Monday in October
The Justices traveled
far and wide
To forget last term or so
they tried
Same sex marriage, the death
penalty, and Obamacare
Gave the Justices quite a scare
It was perhaps their
grumpiest term
Scalia's anger made the press corps squirm
This Term won't better I fear
Hard cases are coming this year
Affirmative Action is back in Court
Hard cases are coming this year
Affirmative Action is back in Court
The Conservatives will try to cut it short
They say they decide by
history and text
But on this issue, it’s all pretext
They say colorblind the
Constitution must be
But I am afraid that I must seriously disagree
From our beginning to Brown in 1954
Whites almost always closed
the school house door
Now schools want to
make up for the past
And bring real diversity to
the country at last
But without any basis in law
or fact
SCOTUS may make our country go way back
One person one vote is also
near
The law on this couldn’t be
more unclear
The issue is whether to
count person or voter
There will be much confusion before it’s
over
The Court made it all up from the
start
From text and history they
did depart
So the rooster has now come home
to roost
The GOP will get the boost
Abortion and immigration are
not far behind
To women and the poor the
Court is usually unkind
These arguments will take place in the dark
For secrecy is the Court’s hallmark
For secrecy is the Court’s hallmark
Cameras the Justices say will lead to danger
But their arguments couldn't be stranger
Their oral arguments Americans
should see
In the name of greater transparency
But don’t expect cameras anytime
soon
Much easier just to shoot the
moon
Will Scalia and Ginsburg finally retire
A decision by either I would greatly admireFor that we will have to wait and see
For it may all depend on Hilary
Until then this ode must come to an end
I thank Mr. Dorf, my blogger
and friend
6 comments:
What might be worse
Than this rhyming verse?
Why a SCOTUS rehearse
For Jeb!: its Bush v. Gore curse!
"I lift up my glass to plain meaning,
While Tony is busily preening.
The text is surely clear,
The ship of state I’ll steer,
Though none can be sure how I’m leaning." -- Guess Who
Ginsburg is fourth on the seniority chart -- Thomas (who can be here twenty more years) and Kennedy is ahead of her even putting aside Scalia.
Breyer is on the Late Show with Steven Colbert tonight. With Emily Blunt.
Rhyme can sometimes overcome reason. Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets" floats on poetic license in my mind into "SCOTUS REGRETS" and has nothing to do with lunch, except that sometimes SCOTUS does eat the lunch of the political branches. Constructing such a parody might be elevating poetically but perhaps not for justice. I note John Oliver's "Last Week" treat-ise on public defenders and "You have a right to an attorney ...." Will SCOTUS come to terms on making this right a right in actuality? Perhaps denials of cert might be pronounced "SCOTUS REGRETS" and then having lunch.
I am not a good judge of poetry but I would have enjoyed it more if published under the nom de plume Yi-Fen Chou. As a work of speculative fiction, I think it deserves a Hugo.
Regarding Joseph's "I am not a good judge of poetry but ... " The subject is SCOTUS and the Constitution, and the law not being a science (although fictional at times) would not be eligible for a Hugo, unless proposed interplanetarily. Poetic license is not stripped by poetic malpractice. As to judging poetry, I know it when I see it, whether good or bad.
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