Balkinization  

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

An Emily Litella Moment in Supreme Court Transcripts

Mark Tushnet

From the transcript of today's oral argument in Bond v. United States -- Justice Ginsburg: "You haven't answered directly why the Bill of Rights does constrain the treaty power, the implementation of it, Reid v.  Colbert?"

Emily Litella: "What's this about Harry Reid suing Stephen Colbert? Doesn't Reid understand that Colbert just pretends to be a conservative TV host? That Colbert is actually working for the Democratic Party? So, if Colbert says something mean about Harry Reid, it's just to show how nasty Republicans are and why people should hate them. So, why sue Stephen Colbert when he's helping the Democrats?"

Voice-over: "It's just a transcription error. The case is actually Reid v. Covert."

Emily Litella: "Oh. Never mind." [I assume that the error will be corrected as the transcript is processed.]

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