Cringeworthy SCOTUS Puns

August 27th, 2012

Tragically, I make too many terrible puns. My co-clerks used to cringe daily as I twisted and contorted words.

Today in class I was looking for “Justice Souter” as an answer. My hint to the student: Come on, you can *hack it*

Didn’t work.

Get it?

I mentioned it to a friend, who wrote back “Souter just couldn’t Hackett at SCOTUS after Bush v. Gore, if you believe the rumors.”

He then added, “Want some Hugo Lafayette Black-ened salmon?  I’ll join you, but only if you make me a Sherman Minton Julep.”

To which I replied, with perhaps the most cringe-worthy pun of the day: “It was really hard to see Justice Ginsburg say goodbye to Justice O’Connor. I cried when Ruth Bader farewell.”

Why was I asking abouter David Hacket Souter in property, you may ask? Today I taught a 1988 NH Supreme Court case, Lempke v. Dagenais, in which a majority of the court overruled a two-year old precedent, and held that privity of contract is not required when a subsequent buyer seeks to sue a builder for a violation of the implied warranty of workmanlike quality. That may not be significant, but for the notable dissent:

SOUTER, J., dissenting:

Because I am not satisfied that there is an adequate justification to repudiate the rationale unanimously adopted by this court a mere two years ago in Ellis v. Robert C. Morris, Inc., 128 N.H. 358, 513 A.2d 951 (1986), I respectfully dissent.

The majority opinion was so liberal that not even Souter, on his brief stint on the NH Supreme Court, could stomach it. His entire dissent was one sentence.

I’m sure this case was in John Sununu’s briefing packet, when he concluded that Souter would make a good, conservative replacement for Justice Brennan. Oh well.

Update: From Moin on Facebook: “If you Field or Marshall more of these puns, i may have to Chase you with a Salmon”