It’s not every day that a Supreme Court dissent goes viral, but Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 35-page dissent in the decision Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (or at least, the one-page summary of it) has blown up among those who disagree with the Court’s ruling that closely held corporations are allowed a religious exemption from covering contraceptives in their employee health-care plans.
“Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be perceived as favoring one religion over another, the very risk the [Constitution’s] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude,” the 81-year-old associate justice writes, concluding: “The Court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield.”
Now Ginsburg’s dissent has the ultimate mark of social-media success: a musical remix performed by Jonathan Mann, the musician behind the Song A Day project.
In his two-and-a-half-minute song, Mann transforms excerpts from Ginsburg’s dissent into a protest ballad about religious liberty and contraceptive use. The effort works much better than Mann’s similar song from 2009, in which he turned Bush administration torture memos into a bright acoustic ditty, to discordant effect.
Read the full lyrics of the song below. The chorus about “geezers,” as you might expect, is an invention by Mann.
Ginsburg’s Hobby Lobby Dissent
Religious organizations exist
To foster the interests
Of persons subscribing to the same religious faith
Not so of for-profit corporations
Workers who sustain the operations
Commonly are not drawn from one religious community
It bears note that the cost of an IUD
Is nearly equivalent
To a month’s full-time pay
For workers on the minimum wage
The court I fear
Has ventured into a minefield
Slut-shaming geezers
And religious extremism
One thing’s clear
This fight isn’t over
We gotta stand together
For what we know is right
Any decision to use contraceptives
Is not propelled by government
It’s the woman’s autonomous choice, informed by her doctor
Approving some religious claims
While deeming others unworthy
Could be perceived as favoring one religion over another
Would the exemption extend to blood transfusions
Antidepressasnts and anesthesia
Pills coated with gelatin and vaccinations?
The court I fear
Has ventured into a minefield
Slut-shaming geezers
And religious extremism
One thing’s clear
This fight isn’t over
We gotta stand together
For what we know is right
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