From the mind of an award-winning composer and recent law school graduate, Derrick Wang, comes a story about the odd relationship between Justices Scalia and Ginsburg– in the form of an opera. Opera seria, to be more specific.
WASHINGTON (AP) — He’s a tenor stuck in the 18th century. She’s a soprano who evolves over time.
They fight like cats and dogs at work, but somehow forge and maintain a beautiful friendship.
It’s “Scalia/Ginsburg,” the opera by award-winning composer Derrick Wang, who just graduated from the University of Maryland law school.
NPR delves into Wang’s reasoning:
“I realized this is the most dramatic thing I’ve ever read in law school … and I started to hear music — a rage aria about the Constitution,” Wang said. “And then, in the midst of this roiling rhetoric, counterpoint, as Justice Ginsburg’s words appeared to me — a beacon of lyricism with a steely strength and a fervent conviction all their own. And I said to myself, ‘This is an opera.’ “
Justice Scalia, “the tenor,” bellows,
“The justices are blind. How can they spout this? The Constitution says absolutely nothing about this!”
Justice Ginsburg, the soprano, retorts:
“How many times must I tell you, dear Mister Justice Scalia: You’d spare us such pain if you’d just entertain this idea,” Ginsburg says. “You are searching in vain for a bright-line solution to a problem that isn’t so easy to solve. But the beautiful thing about our Constitution is that, like our society, it can evolve.”
“Constitutional interpretation, in song.” Sounds more like opera buffa, to me.