Antonin Scalia, Guns / Firearms, Prisons, Religion, Samuel Alito, Supreme Court, Television

Did The Simpsons Predict A Hot-Button SCOTUS Case 22 Years Ago?

A tipster noted that a controversial Supreme Court case from this Term gets a predictive wink from an episode that aired in 1992...

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Watching old Simpsons episodes can be a little like reading Nostradamus. The early episodes are filled with gags that seem creepily prescient in the light of hindsight. Like how Stop The Planet of the Apes I Want To Get Off predated the “let’s make an old movie into a musical” craze. Or how Fox is gradually transitioning into a hardcore sex channel.

But a tipster noted that a controversial Supreme Court case from this Term gets a predictive wink from an episode that aired in 1992….

In Holt v. Hobbs, a Muslim inmate challenges a prison policy banning beards. The prison claims that allowing inmates to grow beards presents a threat to the public if the inmate escapes because he can easily shave his beard to alter his appearance. Justice Scalia doesn’t see that as much of a threat. Apparently he never saw The Fugitive, because that’s the first thing Harrison Ford does after escaping. A daring train derailment escape is too attenuated a risk to justify the ban, but let’s not pretend it isn’t a thing.

Anyway, the prison also argues that inmates could use long beards to hide contraband. Setting up Justice Alito to ask if there was a comb that could be used to prevent inmates from hiding — wait for it — tiny revolvers in their beards. Now we’ve seen tiny revolvers concealed in a lot of crazy places, but a beard would be a difficult nesting place for all but the meekest of Derringer. Or so you would have thought if you weren’t well-versed in Simpsons history.

Check out what old-timer Jasper is able to squirrel away in his beard.

(This is a high-quality clip but has an ad involved. If you refuse to sit through an ad, there’s a low-quality version on the next page)

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Arkansas Deputy Attorney General David Curran argued the prison system’s case and by all accounts got pounced on by the Court. Perhaps he should have carved out time in his oral argument to show just how much damage Jasper was prepared to wreak on Springfield. A lost opportunity.

Beard Ban Under Fire In Plain English [SCOTUSBlog]

Earlier: Woman Concealed a Handgun… Where?

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