I was kind of hoping for a discussion of necessary trespass, but...

February 7, 2012 8:02 PM

Justice Sonia Sotomayor stops by Sesame Street for a cup of coffee...
posted by Navelgazer (32 comments total)

Bravo to Sotomayor and the Sesame Street team for trying to illustrate what a Justice does and how things are decided.

If only more court cases could be solved with a suggestion of a bit of glue and cooperation.

Waiting for the FauxNews spin on this.
posted by hippybear at 8:21 PM on February 7, 2012 [7 favorites]

Should've served some Torts with that coffee, cuz Baby Bear got screwed! Goldilocks was clearly trespassing!

On the other hand, Baby Bear should have never tried to represent himself! Those strict interpreting bears get so caught up on the Second Amendment and their irrational fear of losing their limbs, that they totally drop the ball on chattels.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 8:22 PM on February 7, 2012 [10 favorites]

Fox News: Activist Sotomayor tramples on private property rights of bear, extends unprecedent usufruct rights to G. Locks.
posted by phrontist at 8:23 PM on February 7, 2012 [8 favorites]

Waiting for the FauxNews spin on this.

She did declare that a Justice makes decisions based on their opinion. Clearly she supports Judicial overreaching and the insertion of personal beliefs in place of the Constitution.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:26 PM on February 7, 2012

I came for Muppet goodness and got a bunch of legal in-jokes. Sigh...
posted by Quietgal at 8:26 PM on February 7, 2012

I saw this with my kid the other day and immediately thought, "I want to be a Supreme Court Justice so I can be on Sesame Street!"

Priorities!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:27 PM on February 7, 2012 [9 favorites]

Should've served some Torts with that coffee, cuz Baby Bear got screwed!

I blame the Knave of Hearts! Let's hear the verdict, and then review some of the evidence.
posted by Nomyte at 8:30 PM on February 7, 2012

Ha! If she's hearing it that means Sesame Street is in the Tenth Circuit which makes the Tenth Circuit the best circuit. Suck it, D.C. Cir.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:35 PM on February 7, 2012

Minutes later, citing Kelo v. City of New London, Sotomayor ruled in favor of the big bad wolf.
posted by eddydamascene at 8:40 PM on February 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Sesame Street is clearly in Brooklyn, making it within the 2nd Circuit, actually.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:40 PM on February 7, 2012 [5 favorites]

Scalia would have given Baby Bear permission to shoot Goldilocks, I think. Sanctity of private property and castle doctrine and all that.
posted by dr. boludo at 8:42 PM on February 7, 2012 [5 favorites]

From the Wikipedia entry: The fictional Sesame Street is set to represent a neighborhood of New York City. While Sesame Workshop staff agree, the specific neighborhood that it is supposed to represent is still disagreed upon by staff. Art director Victor DiNapoli has stated that it is supposed to be located on the Upper West Side. Sesame Street's founder, Joan Ganz Cooney, stated in 1994 that she originally wanted to call the show 123 Avenue B, after the Alphabet City area of the Lower East Side and East Village. So Manhattan, not Brooklyn. But still, 2nd Circuit.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:45 PM on February 7, 2012 [8 favorites]

Thanks, Tomorrowful!
posted by Navelgazer at 8:47 PM on February 7, 2012

These things matter god dammit!
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:53 PM on February 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

He obviously meant Manhattan, Kansas in the Tenth Circuit where all the groundbreaking inner city puppet law cases are decided.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:55 PM on February 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Clearly Justice Sotomayor is in favor of reviving the practice of Supreme Court justices "riding circuit" (i.e. traveling to intermediate appellate or even trial courts to hear cases). Early circuit courts were courts of original jurisdiction, so Supreme Court justices were often involved in trials. Over time the practice became increasingly difficult and time-consuming, and the expanding Supreme Court caseload eventually made circuit riding untenable, leading to its abolition by the passage of the Judicial Code of 1911.

Some legal scholars have suggested that the practice be revived. See David R. Stras, Why Supreme Court Justices Should Ride Circuit Again, 91 Minn. L. Rev. 1710 (2007) (available online here [pdf]). For a history of circuit riding, see Joshua Glick, On the Road: The Supreme Court and the History of Circuit Riding, 24 Cardozo L. Rev. 1753 (2003) (available online here [pdf]).
posted by jedicus at 9:05 PM on February 7, 2012 [7 favorites]

Eyesbrows McGee, my wife has previously told me that she wants me to be President so that she can use the President's power to pick items from the Smithsonian to decorate the White House(this may or may not be a thing) and have Kermit live with us in the White House.

She acknowledges that I would make a terrible President, but would vote for me on the strength of the Kermie issue.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:52 PM on February 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

God if Seasme Street is in the Upper Wedt Side then all those muppets have nannies and per-K yoga classes and vague yet frantic anexity to get back too.

Also something something something private school.
posted by The Whelk at 9:53 PM on February 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Also everyone knows Seasame Street is an unmarked stop on the G train.
posted by The Whelk at 10:06 PM on February 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is a clear step backwards for progressives, as Sotomayor will now have to recuse herself from any court decisions pertaining to muppet rights.
posted by mek at 10:31 PM on February 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

This is a clear step backwards for progressives, as Sotomayor will now have to recuse herself from any court decisions pertaining to muppet rights.

Not just progressives. This muppet is a conservative.

This one too, BTW
posted by Skeptic at 1:49 AM on February 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

WHAT IS GOLDILOCKS DOING WITH GLUE!
posted by I Foody at 5:12 AM on February 8, 2012

Well played, Skeptic!
posted by oddman at 6:07 AM on February 8, 2012

This_Will_Be_Good:Should've served some Torts with that coffee, cuz Baby Bear got screwed! Goldilocks was clearly trespassing!

Actually, it was "twespassing".
posted by dr_dank at 6:28 AM on February 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Next, Sonia Sotomayor decides whether or not Bert and Ernie can get married!

(I heart the mention of usufruct above - because it reminds me of 1st year property law in law school in Louisiana. By the end of the 1st semester, we turned it into a statement of one's inability to make it through whatever challenge laid ahead by saying, "u-so-fruuuuuccct". Good times.)
posted by Leezie at 7:17 AM on February 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

So, she happens to carry glue with her on her person, claims she got 'sleepy' after breaking into a private residence, destroying property, stealing food then crashing out on the nod in the residence.

Sounds a a lot like Robert Downey Jr.'s case from 1987.
posted by chambers at 8:49 AM on February 8, 2012

I sorta feel like the real problem here is that Maria has invited Sotomayor for coffee, and Sotomayor is being very rude by failing to exhibit any kind of work/life balance.
posted by jefficator at 9:18 AM on February 8, 2012 [3 favorites]

my, maria has aged well. i haven't seen her since i was knee high to a supply depot.
posted by Avenger50 at 1:10 PM on February 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Next, Sonia Sotomayor decides whether or not Bert and Ernie can get married!

Bert and Ernie are brothers who share a bedroom. I don't think any law supports marriage between siblings.
posted by hippybear at 2:10 PM on February 8, 2012

Bert and Ernie are brothers who share a bedroom.

I don't think that's true. For one, aren't they modeled on the Odd Couple? For another, they don't have the same skin-color. Lastly -- and this should strike the nail into the bert-and-ernie-are-brothers coffin -- Bert has a twin brother named Bart and he's only ever referred to as Bert's brother, not Ernie's.
posted by nobody at 2:54 PM on February 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

"Fox News: Activist Sotomayor tramples on private property rights of bear"

Live together happily ever after, my ass! You just socialized my house!
posted by markkraft at 9:10 PM on February 8, 2012

Until Fox News weighs in, the comments on Glenn Beck's TheBlaze.com will have to do:

Goldilocks completely whines like the typical liberal ‘tard that she “didn’t mean to do it”, and “it was the only perfect chair”. Sound familiar – I want the chair so I’m entitled, even if I break it. What a disaster this country has now become.

Breaking and Entering, Criminal Trespass, Malicious Mischief, Burglary? It’s cool Goldie, this is the New World Order!

posted by yjon at 3:25 PM on February 9, 2012