June 30, 2008

Black Robe Blues

What's weirder?

A) That the chief justice of the Supreme Court is citing Bob Dylan lyrics as the rationale for his legal arguments; or
B) That with all of his Supreme Court resources at his disposal, he couldn't get the words right*; or
C) That a Washington & Lee law professor took the time to study which rock musicians are most quoted in judicial decisions, and published the results?

For what it's worth, the professor found that Bob Dylan has been quoted almost as many times (26) as Simon & Garfunkel (12), Bruce Springsteen (5), Rolling Stones (4), the Beatles (3), Grateful Dead (2) and Joni Mitchell (1) combined.

* The New York Times reports that Chief Rocker, er, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose," but the lyric actually is "When you ain't got nothing...."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

or
4) that you have the time & energy and were able to compile all this information
i would vote for 1) though. pretty funny.

Loree said...

Maybe he couldn't just bring himself to use the word "ain't." That would have given me pause, too.