How Does It Feel To Be Alone?
How does it feel to be alone
with no one round with whom you can
hang out, e-mail and telephone
now silent from your loverman?
How does it feel to get no kicks
from your beloved? Who is left,
for you to mix with, will you nix
your lovelife, loverman bereft?
Stone cold and lonely, lady, will
you roll, or will you gather moss?
On empty running, will you fill
your life again, make up your loss?
I knew that you were bound to fall
when first you fell for me. D’you feel
there’s someone else now you can call
and hope that you can make a deal?
With no direction home, is there,
d’you think, another man who’ll hold
you as I did, and if so, where
d’you think that like a stone he’s rolled?
Inspired by an article in the NYT by Adam Liptak on the use of lyrics by Bob Dylan in the Supreme Court (“The Chief Justice, Dylan and the Disappearing Double Negative, ” June 29,2008) :
The last chief justice liked light opera. The new one cites Bob Dylan. oour 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.
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.
But Mr. Dylan has only once before been cited as an authority on Article III standing, which concerns who can bring a lawsuit in federal court. His key contribution to legal discourse has been in another area.
“The correct rule on the necessity of expert testimony has been summarized by Bob Dylan: ‘You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, ’ ” a California appeals court wrote in 1981, citing “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Eighteen other decisions have cited that lyric.
Chief Justice Roberts’s predecessor, William H. Rehnquist, cited his beloved Gilbert & Sullivan in a 1980 dissent from a decision that the press had a constitutional right of access to court proceedings. He was still an associate justice, and he thought the court had made up the right out of whole cloth. In rebuttal, Justice Rehnquist relied on the Lord Chancellor in “Iolanthe” to rebuke the majority. “The Law is the true embodiment of everything that’s excellent, ” the Lord Chancellor says. “It has no kind of fault or flaw, and I, my Lords, embody the Law.”
That made Justice Rehnquist’s point pretty well. The Roberts citation is more problematic. On the one hand, he showed excellent taste. “Like a Rolling Stone, ” as Greil Marcus has written, is “the greatest record ever made, perhaps, or the greatest record that ever would be made.” On the other hand, Chief Justice Roberts gets the citation wrong, proving that he is neither an originalist nor a strict constructionist. What Mr. Dylan actually sings, of course, is, “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”
It’s true that many Web sites, including Mr. Dylan’s official one, reproduce the lyric as Chief Justice Roberts does. But a more careful Dylanist might have consulted his iPod. “It was almost certainly the clerks who provided the citation, ” Professor Long said. “I suppose their use of the Internet to check the lyrics violates one of the first rules they learned when they were all on law review: when quoting, always check the quote with the original source, not someone else’s characterization of what the source said.” The larger objection is that the citation is not true to the original point Mr. Dylan was making, which was about the freedom that having nothing conveys and not about who may sue a phone company. (See, e.g., “Me and Bobby McGee.”)
6/29/08
poem by Gershon Hepner
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
A Do-Over Again?
I wrote awhile back about the Michigan and Florida Democratic Do-Over,
Because they violated the Democratic Party’s rules,
Now Barack Obama is the 44th President as of January 20th was that for sure?
In the hustle and bustle amongst all the bling and jewels,
There was a snafu,
At noon, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts who hadn’t clue,
What he was about to say,
Justice Roberts managed to mumble a few pseudo-dyslexic statements,
For President-Elect Obama to repeat, with some surprise,
After all was the Chief Justice caught up in the moments?
This slice of American History;
This Chief Justice will make history for centuries after his demise.
What a glorious event,2 million people attended, without one fracas of the law,
What moments that practically the whole world watched,
Glued to their TV’s, radios, I-Pods, and Computers,
Could have not believed what they saw,
A non-white man was going be the President of the United States of America?
But back to the swearing ceremony; the Chief Justice,
-well kind of ‘screwed up’.
Rather than embarrass the Judge,
Barack played along,
That’s when I knew he was for real,
Rather than create an upheaval of trying to correct the Judge’s words,
Barack went on with the flow,
No ‘up-manship’ here,
it was pretty clear,
That Barack Obama was our president after 12: 01 pm EST,
However he was repeating the words of a man, not the constitution,
Yesterday, at a private ceremony,
Supreme Court Roberts did say the correct words,
In which “President Obama” was sworn in a second time,
On consecutive dates in this institution.
(1-22-09)
poem by Joe Rosochacki
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The death of chief justice Rehnquist and the president's nomination of John Roberts raises the stakes for the court and the American people exponentially.
quote by Ralph Neas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Justice...
… Slow Justice
Is Better Than No Justice
… I Just Want Justice and Peace
To Feel Justice
It Must Be Real Justice
Not Cut-Deals Or Just A Piece
Full Justice
Not Pull The Wool Justice
She’s Already Been Blindfolded Enough
We Accuse Justice
But To Lose Justice
Is To Unlock Chaos’ Cuffs
Justice …
Is Lustrous
In Pearls Of Conviction Displayed
Justice …
The Huntress
Were Wild-Wily-Wrongs Are Caged
A Cry For Justice
Is Why Justice’s
Scales-Weights Shouldn’t Be In Doubt
Legal Justice
Be Equal Justice
With Rules To Balance It Out
Honest Justice
Promise Justice
Is Right For The Poor and Oppressed
But Even Rich Justice
And Even Quick Justice
Should Be A Standard, Silvered Process
Raw Justice
Shouldn’t Be Flawed Justice
But Free To All Everywhere
The Power Of Justice
Is That The Hour Of Justice
Doesn’t Run Out Of Time Anywhere
Men Must Court Justice
And Support Justice
To Qualify For Her ‘Your’ Honor
And Seek Justice
And Speak Justice
And Be A Worthy Defender Word-Warrior
Some Have Burned Justice
Some Have Spurned Justice
In The Lies That They Have Sworn
Some Have Raped Justice
Then Gaped At Justice
Laid Bare Like Loss Innocence In Porn
Oh Sweet Justice
Don’t Beat Justice
We Are In Races But We Shouldn’t Fight
Some System Of Justice
Has Idealism Of Justice
But The Whole World Needs To Get It Right …
Then True Justice
And Overdue Justice
Will Be The Law Of Every Land & Life
Without Justice
You Can Count Justice’s
Tears Rolling Down In Strife
The Hope Of Justice
And Scope Of Justice
Is That Justice Answers To GOD
The Mercy Of Justice
And Courtesy Of Justice
Will Be The Final Plea Bargain LORD …
____________________
The Sound Of Justice
Is Profound To Us …
… In Juries, They’ve Sung Her Song Or Tried
O’ I Miss Justice …
And I Wish Justice
Would Just Come Back Here and Say “High”
Written & ©: 7/19/10
by: The MoonBee
Where’s Justice … Where Did She Go?
There Are Victims Here Who Want To Know
….. MoonBee
poem by MoonBee Canady
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It's now up to the full Senate to move swiftly to confirm John Roberts so he can assume his duties and responsibilities as chief justice when the Supreme Court begins its new term in a matter of weeks. We call on the Senate to confirm John Roberts without delay.
quote by Jay Alan Sekulow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Blazing Through All Precedents
Blazing through all precedents,
Supreme Court Justices have customarily abused
omnipotence until as decedents
they are compelled by death, an act of God, to be recused.
Of corporate money there’s no dearth
in politics, said John Paul Stevens, arguing in dissent;
decisions with some moral worth
are lacking in the Highest Court, should have been his lament.
Inspired by a comment by Justice John Paul Stevens, cited by Adam Liptak in an article on him in the NYT, January 25,2010 (“After 34 Years, a Plainspoken Justice Gets Louder”) :
The Supreme Court announced its big campaign finance decision at 10 in the morning last Thursday. By 10: 30 a.m., after Justice Anthony M. Kennedy had offered a brisk summary of the majority opinion and Justice John Paul Stevens labored through a 20-minute rebuttal, a sort of twilight had settled over the courtroom. It seemed the Stevens era was ending. Justice Stevens, who will turn 90 in April, joined the court in 1975 and is the longest-serving current justice by more than a decade. He has given signals that he intends to retire at the end of this term, and his dissent on Thursday was shot through with disappointment, frustration and uncharacteristic sarcasm.He seemed weary, and more than once he stumbled over and mispronounced ordinary words in the lawyer’s lexicon — corruption, corporation, allegation. Sometimes he would take a second or third run at the word, sometimes not. But there was no mistaking his basic message. “The rule announced today — that Congress must treat corporations exactly like human speakers in the political realm — represents a radical change in the law, ” he said from the bench. “The court’s decision is at war with the views of generations of Americans.”..
“It is difficult to convey how thoroughly egregious counsel’s closing argument was, ” Justice Stevens wrote of a defense lawyer’s work. “Suffice it to say that the argument shares far more in common with a prosecutor’s closing than with a criminal defense attorney’s. Indeed, the argument was so outrageous that it would have rightly subjected a prosecutor to charges of misconduct.” In the second case, Justice Stevens did vote to uphold the death sentence, saying that even a closing argument worthy of Clarence Darrow would not have spared the defendant. That carefully calibrated distinction was of a piece with the view he announced in 2008 in Baze v. Rees, when he said he had come to the conclusion that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment. But he went on to say that his conclusion did not justify “a refusal to respect precedents that remain a part of our law.”
1/25/10
poem by Gershon Hepner
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Splitting Infinitives
Chief Justice Roberts hates to split
infinitives, and boldly goes
towards the future without wit,
his path as prim as that prim rose
that once Polonius boldly took,
advising Hamlet not to dally.
The Constitution almost shook
when he refused to shilly-shally,
and tried to wander in a way
that was unfaithful to the text
the oath of office. The next day
the problem was resolved, and now,
Queen’s English and our own unregal
language must agree that splitting
of infinitives is legal,
although pedantically unfitting,
since we’ve a President who swore
appropriately, and a Justice
who like Polonius is a bore
and clearly just as dry as dust is.
Inspired by Stephen Pinker’s Op-Ed article in the NYT, January 22,2009, appropriately titled “Oaf of Office, ” commenting on the fiasco created by Chief Justice Roberts when administering the oath of office to President Obama according togrammatical rules that conflict with the original text of the oath:
In 1969, Neil Armstrong appeared to have omitted an indefinite article as he stepped onto the moon and left earthlings puzzled over the difference between “man” and “mankind.” In 1980, Jimmy Carter, accepting his party’s nomination, paid homage to a former vice president he called Hubert Horatio Hornblower. A year later, Diana Spencer reversed the first two names of her betrothed in her wedding vows, and thus, as Prince Charles Philip supposedly later joked, actually married his father. On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Flubber Hall of Fame when he administered the presidential oath of office apparently without notes. Instead of having Barack Obama “solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, ” Chief Justice Roberts had him “solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully.” When Mr. Obama paused after “execute, ” the chief justice prompted him to continue with “faithfully the office of president of the United States.” (To ensure that the president was properly sworn in, the chief justice re-administered the oath Wednesday evening.)
How could a famous stickler for grammar have bungled that 35-word passage, among the best-known words in the Constitution? Conspiracy theorists and connoisseurs of Freudian slips have surmised that it was unconscious retaliation for Senator Obama’s vote against the chief justice’s confirmation in 2005. But a simpler explanation is that the wayward adverb in the passage is blowback from Chief Justice Roberts’s habit of grammatical niggling. Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers for centuries, and that have been disavowed by every thoughtful usage manual. Nonetheless, they refuse to go away, perpetuated by the Gotcha! Gang and meekly obeyed by insecure writers. Among these fetishes is the prohibition against “split verbs, ” in which an adverb comes between an infinitive marker like “to, ” or an auxiliary like “will, ” and the main verb of the sentence. According to this superstition, Captain Kirk made a grammatical error when he declared that the five-year mission of the starship Enterprise was “to boldly go where no man has gone before”; it should have been “to go boldly.” Likewise, Dolly Parton should not have declared that “I will always love you” but “I always will love you” or “I will love you always.”
Any speaker who has not been brainwashed by the split-verb myth can sense that these corrections go against the rhythm and logic of English phrasing. The myth originated centuries ago in a thick-witted analogy to Latin, in which it is impossible to split an infinitive because it consists of a single word, like dicere, “to say.” But in English, infinitives like “to go” and future-tense forms like “will go” are two words, not one, and there is not the slightest reason to interdict adverbs from the position between them.
Though the ungrammaticality of split verbs is an urban legend, it found its way into The Texas Law Review Manual on Style, which is the arbiter of usage for many law review journals. James Lindgren, a critic of the manual, has found that many lawyers have “internalized the bogus rule so that they actually believe that a split verb should be avoided, ” adding, “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers has succeeded so well that many can no longer distinguish alien speech from native speech.” In his legal opinions, Chief Justice Roberts has altered quotations to conform to his notions of grammaticality, as when he excised the “ain’t” from Bob Dylan’s line “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” On Tuesday his inner copy editor overrode any instincts toward strict constructionism and unilaterally amended the Constitution by moving the adverb “faithfully” away from the verb. President Obama, whose attention to language is obvious in his speeches and writings, smiled at the chief justice’s hypercorrection, then gamely repeated it. Let’s hope that during the next four years he will always challenge dogma and boldly lead the nation in new directions.
1/22/09
poem by Gershon Hepner
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Beyond all reasonable doubt For J.T ellison
Can it be that you believe?
that justice is what you receive.
If you submit your case to court.
It ought to be but it is not.
All thought of justice is forgot
bogged down in legal argument.
Though you have right upon your side
Although you know the witness lied
it does not mean you’ll win your case.
You cannot prove his words untrue
so there is little you can do.
and at that point your case will fail.
Justice is blind and can be found
outside the court with her eyes bound.
Because she cannot bear to see.
The happenings inside the court
Injustices of every sort
No justice just a travesty.
13-Jul-08
http: // blpg.myspace.com/poeticpiers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
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The irony of the Supreme Court hearing on these cases last week and of the outright hostility that the Court has displayed against religion in recent years is that above the head of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is a concrete display of the Ten Commandments.
quote by Cliff Stearns
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On the Innate Drive For What is Right
As life bled, martyrdom flared its buds.
Repression, red from irritation,
Rendered chinks and cracks; but thuds of
Armament - in cowardice - accomplice of the
Dictatorial blight thro' countless years -
Wreaked its retribution:
Yet hope began to bloom a coloured carapace
Enshrining their allegiance ‘gainst the
Terror in their tears.
And on! Splits yawned - breaches in the junta:
Flesh fought fanatical minds -
Bullets welcomed into open hands
And blessed with yearnings for morality:
Chiselled man-toys of death and mutilation
Couldn't repel the might of freedom
Surging at the bright horizon.
Crepuscular rays of purpose, body,
Flooded pandemonium with
Overwhelming clarity, direction -
Burdened clouds drifting wayward as the
Light channelled out a vision,
Intensifying focus on tomorrow -
Deepen their stride
As they home in to
What is theirs,
Rightfully theirs!
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2011
The reign of justice and freedom
justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice
justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice
justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice
justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice
justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice
freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom
poem by Mark R Slaughter
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Where's The Freedom And Justice?
where's the freedom and justice?
trapped behind bars
watching lightning fast cars
where's the freedom and justice?
why keep hope
when happiness pops like soap
where's the freedom and justice?
cant breathe
cant leave
where's the freedom and justice?
hate misery
hate mystery
where's the freedom and justice?
you get raped
get interviewed on tape
where's the freedom and justice?
goes to court
but his bad luck is not the unlucky sort
where's the freedom and justice?
he get's away
i like an idea that's revenge is a way!
where's the freedom and justice?
poem by Tesla Blackburn
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Happy Birthday Robert Zimmerman
One of music's legends is Seventy One today
he was born Robert Allen Zimmerman
better known as Bob Dylan to the rest of us
a poet, a songwriter, actor, painter and a musician.
He's written some classic songs over the years
and he has inspired so many artists along the way
he started out writing and singing in the sixties
and he is still performing around the world today.
His voice is unique and it's one of a kind
you know it's Dylan by it's pitch and tone
singing Mr Tambourine Man, Blowin in the Wind,
The Times they are a Changin, and Like a Rolling Stone.
His music is a mixture of Folk, Rock, and the Blues,
but if you want some poetry then Dylan's your man
he's like Shakespeare with a guitar in his hand
and I bet if the Bard was alive today he'd be a big fan!
poem by Kevin Halls
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Justice Of The Peace
(ian hunter)
Its such a terrible shame it was only a game
Then her brothers found out seven johnny be goodes
We was only pretending at mummys and daddys
They totally misunderstood
Oh what a terrible plight what a terrible fight
It was too much to bear her father said ere
I think you better sign its a letter designed
To have you married by the first of the year
Get the justice of the peace
Get the justice get the justice of the peace
Oh get the justice of the peace
Get the justice get the justice of the peace
If you want to play with fire
Youll get yourself burned
I was messing with the ashes
But look at how it turned out
Get the justice of the peace
Get the justice get the justice of the peace
Oh what a terrible waste such a shocking disgrace
To give me away Im too young to die
A shotgun wedding heading straight for the sky
And Im shy mary ellen Im shy y y y
Get the justice of the peace
Get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
Come on!
Get the justice of the peace
Get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
When your chips go down
You came on the dice
Forget the mississippi
Take some friendly advice
Get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
(give it to me old chum)
Get the justice of the peace
Get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
Get the justice of the peace
Get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
If you want to play with fire
Youll get yourself burned
And I was messing with the ashes
And look at how it turned out
Ill get the justice get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice get the justice of the peace
Ill get the justice Ill get the justice of the peace
song performed by by Ian Hunter
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Soon after I returned to private practice, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger called me one day.
quote by Fred F. Fielding
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Justice
'Justice is the one thing you should always find'**-
It needs find all who seek its aegis, e'en though it is blind;
Justice chooses one side, that of verity;
There exists no convolution, only a resplendent clarity
When true justice is rendered, to those in need
Of the curative powers that only it may heed;
Justice denied to one, is justice denied to all, the same-
To those responsible for its denial, goes all the shame!
Justice is not just a decision, its a means of thought-
For its very guard, many a war has been fought,
Many a man has given his very life, as would I-
And no man should be asked to live without it-nor should I;
My justice shan't come, until I may look them in the eyes, and say:
'Though I am not with you, I've kept you in my heart, and there you'll stay! '
poem by Maurice Harris
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Bob Dylan did the first really long record - Like A Rolling Stone - I think it was four minutes.
quote by Pete Townshend
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Justice Ginsburg is a very competent justice, and it is a joy to have her on the court, but particularly for me it is a pleasure to have a second woman on the court.
quote by Sandra Day O'Connor
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Delayed Justice...
(This poem is dedicated to Hollister #22.)
Delayed justice is better than no justice.
The world will always be round.
Facts cannot be altered; prejudice
Is a major impediment to reach sound
Justice. Justice is all we want,
Fairness is what we fight for,
Justice is what we cry for,
Fairness is what we want.
All lives are special.
All God's children are beautiful.
All colors are essential,
To make the rainbow normal.
Justice, Justice is what we want,
Fairness is what we fight for.
Equality under the law is critical.
Equal shade can only make the rainbow
More beautiful and more impartial;
No justice will always be a Big No, No.
Justice is what we cry for,
Fairness is what we want.
The world will always be round.
Finally, we can hear the sound
Of the bells. Justice is around
The corner; she is upward bound.
Delayed justice is better than no justice.
poem by Hebert Logerie
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Justice
For those who reap us of thousands of grand’s
Lavish their wealth on treasures of the land
Justice often does us no right on this stand
For it gives the culprits only a helping hand
Justice is sometimes wrong
Justice is meant to be honour
Justice is sometimes strong
Justice is meant to be society’s formidable cure
With words I can create drama
With written words I cannot stammer
But Justice will do us no right in this drama
For I am called black but I got a white mama
In vain I see no reasonable sense
In this precluded abstract nonsense
And as Justice wears again its white robes
I sincerely hope that it will always accurately probe
Copyright 2008 - Sylvia Chidi
www.sylviachidi.com
Check out my latest 'Justice & If I were a girl'
poem by Sylvia Chidi
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I probably would have voted against Justice Thomas, and, and, and I've been disappointed by what Justice Roberts has done.
quote by Michael Bennett
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Justicia Est Lux (Justice Is Light)
Justice is really quite simple, it is never up for debate-
Yet, debate e'er surrounds it nonetheless;
For some, justice itself becomes a long, arduous wait,
For a time when you finally convince others of your righteousness.
It is said: 'justicia et lux'-or, justice is light-
Light, where before only darkness reigned.
Justice is doing only and always what is right-
True justice, not just justice fallaciously feigned.
Imagine a world where justice was not just an ideal,
But, an inalienable right that no one could steal-
A world where truth alone matters, and naught else;
A world half as inspired as our Forefathers envisioned-
A world where truth becomes known, and is not decisioned-
Where verity dwells above all, no matter of what else!
-Maurice Harris,17 March 2011
poem by Maurice Harris
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