Posted by Randy Barnett:
I've Inspired Poetry!
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_07_12-2009_07_18.shtml#1247659963
I have never inspired poetry before but now Gerson Hepner, has posted
on the Huffington Post a poem inspired by my Wall Street Journal
article, [1]The Seinfeld Hearings. It is called [2]Islands of Rights,
Seas of Powers, so I suppose it is actually inspired by Princeton
Professor Stephen Macedo who coined that memorable imagery.
The land that's our land, rightly known as ours,
has power islands within seas of rights,
and rights in islands within seas of powers,
each barking orders in most unsoundbytes.
Judicial activists resist constraint,
while tyrannical majorities attempt
to sail on seas of power while they taint
rights with intentions Founders never meant.
Those who cannot do may try to teach,
and those who can't pass laws may use the bench
for hermeneutics that can overreach,
extrapolating rights laws don't entrench.
When we read texts we should interpret, not
impose interpretation on each clause
that weren't originally in the plot
conceived by Founders, writing rights and laws.
If we don't do this, we are implying
that the original, like "Seinfeld," merely
is about just nothing, not relying
upon old texts that we don't read sincerely.
I don't know poetry, but I know what I like. Very very cool. Thanks,
Gerson!
References
1.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124744026183929741.html#articleTabs%3Dcomments
2.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gershon-hepner/islands-of-rights-seas-of_b_231361.html
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