Friday, May 1, 2009

PREVIOUSLY ON ... "THE BACHELOR": It has been a tradition on this blog -- and don't ask me why, it just is -- to bypass this blog's most long-standing tradition and acknowledge whenever a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States leaves the bench. And so with his retirement letter now transmitted to the White House, we mark the impending end of Justice David Hackett Souter's service to the Court and to the Nation, and do so with the following notes:

1. The Simpsons, "Homer Goes To College" (writer: Conan O'Brien).
Homer: We played Dungeons & Dragons for three hours! Then I was slain by an elf.
Bart: Listen to yourself, man: you're hangin' with nerds.
Homer: You take that back!
Marge: Homer, please! These boys sound very nice, but they're clearly nerds.
Homer: Really? But nerds are my mortal enemy!
Lisa: Dad, nerds are nothing to fear. In fact, they've done some pretty memorable things. Some nerds of note include popcorn magnate Orville Redenbacher, rock star David Byrne, and Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Homer: [gasp] Oh, not Souter! Oh, no!
2. The limited edition David Souter bobblehead doll, via The Green Bag, crafted just in the nick of time.

3. From Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine.
It was ... a running joke at the Court that outsiders frequently mistook Souter and Breyer for each other. No one could really understand why this happened, because the two bore little resemblance. One day when Souter was making his usual solo drive from Washington to New Hampshire, he stopped for lunch in Massachusetts. A stranger and his wife came up to him and asked, "Aren't you on the Supreme Court?"

Souter said he was.

"You're Justice Breyer, right?" said the man.

Rather than embarrass the fellow, Souter simply nodded and exchanged pleasantries, until he was asked an unexpected question.

"Justice Breyer, what's the best thing about being on the Supreme Court?"

The justice thought for a while, then said, "Well, I'd have to say it's the privilege of serving with David Souter."

No comments:

Post a Comment