SCOTUS Is All Tangled Up in Dylan
The legal (and music) world is abuzz in response to Chief Justice John Roberts citing Bob Dylan in his dissent in Sprint v. APCC Services. From the New York Times:
Four pages into his dissent on Monday in an achingly boring dispute between pay phone companies and long distance carriers, John G. Roberts Jr., the chief justice of the United States, put a song lyric where the citation to precedent usually goes.“The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. ” ‘When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’ Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965).”
Alex B. Long, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and perhaps the nation’s leading authority on the citation of popular music in judicial opinions, said this was almost certainly the first use of a rock lyric to buttress a legal proposition in a Supreme Court decision. “It’s a landmark opinion,” Professor Long said.
Rolling Stone named “Like a Rolling Stone” the best song of all time. Roberts, or the clerk who provided the citation, has good taste, but poor attention to detail. A double negative has gone missing; when Dylan sings it, it is “When you ain’t got nothing…”
Rolling Stone points out that Roberts is the first baby boomer SCOTUS chief. It may be true that we’ll see more musical legal citations by those raised on the political music of the 60s:
In the lower courts, according to a study Professor Long published in the Washington & Lee Law Review last year, Mr. Dylan is by far the most cited songwriter. He has been quoted in 26 opinions. Paul Simon is next, with 8 (12 if you count those attributed to Simon & Garfunkel). Bruce Springsteen has 5.
Both Dylan and Springsteen had three songs nominated for ATL’s Top Ten Law Songs list, though Dylan was the only one to make the final cut with “Hurricane.” Johnny Cash had the most songs nominated. Why aren’t the courts showing Cash citation love?
The Chief Justice, Dylan and the Disappearing Double Negative [New York Times]
Chief Justice John Roberts (Almost) Quotes Bob Dylan [Rolling Stone]
(33) 
Comments
Firstalicious firstness
"I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" doesn't support too many legal propositions...
For an S&G law song, I nominate the short, sweet, and underappreciated Wednesday Morning, 3 am:
I can hear the soft breathing
Of the girl that I love,
As she lies here beside me
Asleep with the night,
And her hair, in a fine mist
Floats on my pillow,
Reflecting the glow
Of the winter moonlight.
She is soft, she is warm,
But my heart remains heavy,
And I watch as her breasts
Gently rise, gently fall,
For I know with the first light of dawn
Ill be leaving,
And tonight will be
All I have left to recall.
Oh, what have I done,
Why have I done it,
Ive committed a crime,
Ive broken the law.
For twenty-five dollars
And pieces of silver,
I held up and robbed
A hard liquor store.
My life seems unreal,
My crime an illusion,
A scene badly written
In which I must play.
Yet I know as I gaze
At my young love beside me,
The morning is just a few hours away.
there are no trials inside the gates of eden.
It may the first time a Supreme Court justice has cited to a rock song, but don't forget Kozinski's dissent in the Vanna White v. Samsung case (I've forgotten the actual caption, but it was a right of publicity case) in which he cited to, as I recall, just about anything and everything.
Kozinski rocks.
Slow day?
They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row
12:31, I disagree: that lyric speaks to the defendant's mens rea. It could be used to support an argument for intentional homocide over manslaughter, etc.
(and that's my nerd out for the day)
Cultural reference, incorrect quote . . . HLR alum clerk?
Obviously this needed to be posted:
Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait, all will be revealed
Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, sounds caress my ear
But not a word I heard could I relay, the story was quite clear
Ohh
(Chorus)
Oh, oh
Oh, oh
Oooh, baby I've been Flying... Mama, there ain't no denyin'
Oooh yeah, I've been Flying, Mama ain't no denyin', no denyin'
All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land
Trying to find, trying to find where I've been.
Oh, pilot of the storm that leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream
You've the map that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Sure as the dust that blows high in June, when moving through Kashmir.
Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear
ohh
(Chorus)
When I'm on, when I'm on my way, yeah
When I see, when I see the way they stay, yeah
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, when I'm down...
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I'm down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oooh, my baby, let me take you there
Let me take you there
Let me take you there
Drew looks at me,
I fake a smile so he won't see
What I want and I'm needing
Everything that we should be
I'll bet she's beautiful,
That girl he talks about
And she's got everything that I'll have to live without
Drew talks to me,
I laugh cause it's just so funny
I can't even see
Anyone when he's with me
He says he's so in love,
He's finally got it right,
I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night
He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star
He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do
Drew walks by me,
Can he tell that I can't breathe?
And there he goes,
So perfectly,
The kind of flawless I wish I could be
She'd better hold him tight,
Give him all her love
Look in those beautiful eyes
And know she's lucky cause
He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star
He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do
So I drive home alone,
As I turn out the light
I'll put his picture down and maybe
Get some sleep tonight
'Cuz He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only one who's got enough of me to break my heart
He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do
He's the time taken up,
But there's never enough
And he's all that I need to fall into.
Drew looks at me,
I fake a smile so he won't see
Opinions should not cite popular music, because doing so gives the appearance of trivializing the rights and obligations (however boring) being adjudicated. Save it for the bench memo.
isn't there a district court opinion somewhere that's basically written up as a LeAnn Rimes song?
12 paul simon songs IF you count those attributed to simon and garfunkel? paul simon wrote every song simon and garfunkel performed (with the exception of scarborough fair/canticle which they co-wrote). garfunkel was just along for the ride
"The trial transcript quotes Ms. Hayden as saying Murphy called her a snitch bitch 'hoe.' A 'hoe,' of course, is a tool used for weeding and gardening. We think the court reporter, unfamiliar with rap music (perhaps thankfully so), misunderstood Hayden's response. We have taken the liberty of changing 'hoe' to 'ho,' a staple of rap music vernacular as, for example, when Ludacris raps 'You doin' ho activities with ho tendencies.'"
United States v. Murphy, 406 F.3d 857, 859 n.1 (7th Cir. 2005)
The Dylan quote was dicta.
Am I the only one to think the reason Robert's didn't include the double negative is because the phrase then wouldn't support his assertion?
Can anyone explain what Roberts is saying? That was the most obtuse sentence I have read in a long time -- and, yes, I realize it's out of context.
The Vanna White Kozinski dissent is found in 989 F.2d 1512.
12:39,
Did Kozinski cite to "2 Girls 1 Cup?" If so, did he describe it as "seminal"?
Kash, you gotta pay attention to details, too. You have two "got"s in there.
Kash, you gotta pay attention to details, too. You have two "got"s in there.
12:31...ever been to Reno?.......it was purely an indication of Mr. Cash's strong desire to engage in social work.
1:25 = post of the day. Simply awesome.
it's actually "if you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose" not "if you GOT ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose." "got ain't got" just don't make no sense.
I don't see how the quote makes any sense here. What would have been more appropriate is "when you got nothing to gain, you got nothing."
Are you all too young to have actually heard the song? The quote is correct.
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/rolling.html
2:40 -- ummm, no, it does make sense. when you got nothing (no standing to sue), you got nothing to lose (nothing to complain about). presumably the plaintiff was not attempting to "gain" as you say and instead was attempting to recover for something it though it had lost. there is a difference. recovering a valid loss provides no gain -- it leaves you in the same position you were before the loss.
3:07 -- Perhaps you're the one who hasn't actually heard the song. While the official website reproduces the lyric as "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose," the recording on Highway 61 Revisited (which is what Roberts cited) clearly contains, "When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose."
4:30, you need to listen to the song again. I think you're having problems with Dylan's diction. There's no distinct "you ain't." It's either "you" or some slurred-together "y'ain't." Given that it's officially published and most widely-quoted as the former, it's best to assume that the line is correctly quoted in Roberts's opinion.
Bob Dylan sucks.
The Chief is awesome though so I'll let it pass...
pretty sure it was correct, actually.
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/rolling.html
i am a lifelong dylan fan, have listened to that song about 1000 times, and am absolutely delighted roberts got the quote wrong (he most definitely did).
i'm delighted because justice roberts does not deserve to be able to quote bob dylan. roberts is an anti-dylan, a mr. jones.