Revisiting Chemerinsky's "Return of the Jedi" Analogy

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post criticizing Erwin Chemerinsky's characterization of the Roberts Court's liberal October 2014 term as the Return of the Jedi. My criticism was both technical (Chemerinsky suggested that the October 2014 term may be followed by The Empire Strikes Back), and based on a desire for the ideal Star Wars metaphor (I suggested that Star Wars: A New Hope would serve as a better analogy).

While I stand by my technical criticism (Empire came before Jedi, damn it!), Chemerinsky's choice of the Return of the Jedi analogy may have been more fitting than I initially could have known. At the time Chemerinsky wrote his article, I had neither seen The Force Awakens (in which the Empire-themed First Order uses a planet-sized superweapon to destroy entire systems of planets) nor was I aware that Donald Trump would be elected President in 2016, causing unprecedented levels of fretfulness in those who wished to see a liberal Supreme Court.

With Chemerinsky hailing Trump's presidency as the potential end of Roe v. Wade and affirmative action programs, it should be only a matter of days until he brings his analogy home. In the meantime, I would call on any of my readers who attend or are employed at the University of Irvine School of Law to try to locate Chemerinsky's time machine the next time they have the opportunity to visit his office.

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