by Nora Jay
“With the June 24 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturns the landmark
1973 abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, the doctrine of stare decisis has fueled debate over the extent
to which the U.S. Supreme Court is bound by legal precedent. Former Associate Justice Lewis Powell once remarked:
‘The elimination of constitutional stare decisis would represent an explicit endorsement of the idea that the Constitution
is nothing more than what five justices say it is.’”
—American Bar Association
Stare, stare night:
Paint your palette full of blues:
Makes no difference what you choose—
It only shows the darkness in your soul;
Brightness on the Hill;
Sketch Pelosi feeling ill;
You’re not cheering? Carlson will,
In chorus with his Foxy-holy band.
Now I understand
What a justice ought to be:
How they regulate society,
Pushing guns to set us free;
They only listen to themselves: that’s how
The law’s decided now.
Stare, stare night:
Party picks who walk the line,
Shameless heads, no more than nine,
With eyes that watch the world they’re turning back
Like those strangers who just yak
On the glories of those days, thought dead,
When men were men and women bred,
And kids could buy a gun but not a drink;
Now I know, I think,
What began with Bush v. Gore;
What McConnell’s long been waiting for,
And what else may be in store.
We cannot stop them, we are helpless still;
Perhaps our children will.