Prof. Laura Little, Temple Law School
Whether you agree or disagree with the decisions handed down during the U.S. Supreme Court’s term ending just this June, you must agree that the term was quite a doozy. Affirmative Action out the window, student loans assistance down the drain, important LGBTQIA+ protections up in smoke. Those who are enraged or deeply disappointed by the decisions turned to a tried-and-true way to express their sentiments: humor. One of the wonders of humor is that it comes in so many varieties and adapts to such a broad array of media. Here’s just a few examples.
Starting first at the nerve center of the Court itself, the dissenting opinions from the term had quite a few zingers:
“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat, But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”
“The best that can be said of the majority’s perspective is that it proceeds (ostrich-like) from the hope that preventing consideration of race will end racism.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissent in the affirmative action case, Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. University of North Carolina.
The twitter-sphere (X-sphere?) also erupted. Here’s a verbal-only example:
Orcas have done more for social justice than the Supreme Court has done this year
Adam@adamgreattweet
And, of course, the satirical website, The Onion, had plenty to say:
The Onion, Harvard Admits First White Student, June 29th 2023 https://www.theonion.com/harvard-admits-first-white-student-1850591962 (commenting on Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. Harvard, Affirmative Action Admissions case)
The Onion, I Decided to Become a Slave so One Day My Descendants Could Steal College Admissions Spots, June 29th, 2023, https://www.theonion.com/i-decided-to-become-a-slave-so-one-day-my-descendants-c-1850592638 (commenting on Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard, Affirmative Action Admissions case)
The Onion, Supreme Court Questions Whether President Legally Allowed to Improve Americans’ Lives, www.theonion.com/supreme-court-questions-whether-president-legally-allow-1850168743 (commenting on Biden v. Nebraska/Department of Education v. Brown, Student Loan Relief cases)
A Most Revered Medium: Political Cartoons
Christopher Weyant, Affirmative Action Reversely, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal June 30th, 2023, https://www.djournal.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/christopher-weyant-affirmative-action-reversely/image_2c6ac50e-1775-11ee-88a6-e724a3063ec5.html Reproduced on Twitter (commenting on Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. Harvard, Affirmative Action Admissions case)
Rob Rogers, Affirmative Action, June 30th, 2023 https://robrogers.com/2023/06/30/affirmative-action-2/ (commenting on Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. Harvard, Affirmative Action Admissions case)
Jimmy Margulies, Student Loan Cancellation Struck Down, June 30th, 2023, https://comicskingdom.com/jimmy-margulies (commenting on Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. Harvard, Affirmative Action Admissions case and Biden v. Nebraska/Department of Education v. Brown, Student Loan Relief cases)
Ed Hall, Friday’s lines., June 30th, 2023, http://halltoons.com/wordpress1/ (commenting on Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. Harvard, Affirmative Action Admissions case)
Kevin Siers, Unequal Justice Before the Law, June 30th, 2023, https://www.cagle.com/kevin-siers/2023/06/unequal-justice-before-the-law (commenting on several cases from October Term 2022, particularly 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, LGBTQ+ Public Accommodations case)
Who Needs Social Media or Traditional Newspapers? Private signs in a Business Window Can Do the Job
LA Blue Dot in GA 🌊💔 @namwella1961, https://twitter.com/namwella1961/status/1675123561801957376
(Commenting on 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, LGBTQ+ Public Accommodations case)
The Most Telling of All? Chat GPT
Whether you find this awesome or downright scary, check out this chat, generated in response to a prompt asking for a satirical interpretation of the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the Affirmative Action Admissions case:
And let’s not forget SFFA v. Harvard, the blockbuster case that had us all on the edge of our seats, biting our nails in anticipation. Who knew that a university’s admissions process could be more suspenseful than a Hollywood thriller? The Supreme Court expertly danced around the question of affirmative action like they were competing on “Dancing with the Constitutional Stars.” Quickstep, foxtrot, waltz — they had it all covered, leaving us to ponder the eternal mystery of whether diversity should be celebrated or shoved under the rug.
It’s truly remarkable how the Supreme Court manages to take complex societal issues and turn them into a farcical circus. They’re like the clowns of justice, juggling principles and precedents with the finesse of a drunken acrobat. We can only imagine the intense debates that took place behind closed doors, with justices dressing up as caricatures of themselves and performing dramatic soliloquies about equal opportunity while doing cartwheels.
But hey, who needs clarity and consistency when we can have a Supreme Court that keeps us guessing? Their decisions are like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re going to get, but you can bet it’ll be coated in layers of confusion and served with a side of disbelief.
So here’s to you, Supreme Court, the masters of legal comedy. Your recent rulings have proven that justice truly is a laughing matter. We eagerly await your next act, where you’ll transform the most critical issues of our time into a sidesplitting spectacle. Bravo!