Left Side Story

"Might she persuade Kennedy to come out differently than what Souter could persuade him to do?" Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the new law school at the University of California at Irvine, said before the hearings. "Can Sotomayor by virtue of her life experiences move Kennedy to join the more liberal bloc more often?"
AP wire, July 18, 2009, on Fox News

A good question to be sure, though I was kind of hoping the more Constitutionally-inclined heads on the court might be good influences on (presumed) Justice Sotomayor. Not that I would want the job of oddsmaker for either possibility.

Anyway, the suggestion moved D to song, and I figured the first Monday in October of '09 might be a good time for a musical interlude. Thus the following. Justice Kennedy doesn't ordinarily seem a flashy type, so if he's going to be whisked off leftwards, he might as well make a good show of it.

Imagine a ballet of law clerks fading to black in the background as Tony, I mean Justice Kennedy, in a pensive mood, steps out into sunset on the Supreme Court portico.

Sonia
By CMinor with just a leetle inspiration from DMinor.

Sung to the tune of Maria from West Side Story.
Apologies to Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, Richard Beymer (even though he didn't really sing it,) and Jimmy Bryant (who actually did.) Heck, throw in the original Broadway cast and the movie cast (right down to key grip and best boy) as well. I know when I've crossed the Musical Blasphemy line.


At decision time I've been known to swing
(Chorus: O Sonia! O Sonia! O Sonia! O Sonia!)
Between activist left and strict constructionist right wing.
(Chor: O Sonia, etc.)

O Sonia!
I just met the justice named Sonia--
And serving the blind dame
Will never be the same
For me.

O Sonia!
I spoke but a moment with Sonia;
She's so jurisprudent
Her devoted student
I'll be.

Ah, Sonia!
Your rich diverse wisdom amazes:
Of your CV I can but sing praises!

O Sonia!
I'll never stop drifting
O Sonia! So-ni-a,
O Sonia! So-ni-a,
O Sonia!
So-ni-a (be sure to drag this one out good), O Sonia!

For judgement such as hers I'm yearning,
So leftwards I'll be evermore turning.
O Sonia!
I'll never stop learning
From Sonia!
Her judicial temperament makes me sing--
So-ni-a!