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May 20, 2019
Waiting for Godot ... Gundy
With apologies to Samuel Beckett, the following script came to mind t capture how I am feeling after another morning of SCOTUS rulings without a decision in one interesting criminal case argued way back in early October:
ESTRAGON: Charming spot. (He refreshes SCOTUSblog.) Inspiring prospects. (He turns to Vladimir.) Let's do some other work.
VLADIMIR: We can't.
ESTRAGON: Why not?
VLADIMIR: We're waiting for Gundy.
ESTRAGON: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You're sure it won't be DIGed?
VLADIMIR: What?
ESTRAGON: That we might wait and wait and not get a ruling.
VLADIMIR: They said by June. (They look at the calendar.) Do you see any others cases taking this long?
ESTRAGON: What others?
VLADIMIR: I don't know. A civil case.
ESTRAGON: What about all the capital cases?
VLADIMIR: What are you insinuating? That we've come to the wrong place?
ESTRAGON: It should be here by now.
VLADIMIR: Then didn't say for sure it'd come.
ESTRAGON: And if it doesn't come?
VLADIMIR: We'll come back next decision day.
ESTRAGON: And then the decision day after that.
VLADIMIR: Possibly.
ESTRAGON: And so on.
VLADIMIR: The point is—
ESTRAGON: Until Gundy comes.
May 20, 2019 at 10:33 AM | Permalink
Comments
Clever. Reminds me of the delivery joint in college that we came to refer to as Godot Pizza.
Posted by: Def. Atty. | May 20, 2019 11:37:48 AM
Not just Gundy. Of the five cases left from the Fall arguments, four have some criminal law related issue: Nieves on retaliatory arrest; Murphy on whether half of Oklahoma is an exclusive federal jursidiction; and Gamble on Dual Sovereign. (But we did get Herrera today on the other Native American treaty conflict with criminal law.)
While the Fall was a little bit heavy on interesting criminal law issues, these cases are taking a lot longer than one would expect. (Over the past three terms, only Gill took longer between argument and opinion than Gundy has taken so far.)
Posted by: tmm | May 20, 2019 1:23:27 PM
