An Inclusive Litany

12/1/99

From a ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott, in response to a lawsuit initiated by lawyer Richard Ganulin that challenged federal recognition of Christmas as a holiday under the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The following are the first five stanzas of the ruling's nine-stanza introductory section:

The court will address
Plaintiff's seasonal confusion
Erroneously believing Christmas
merely a religious intrusion.
We are all better for Santa,
The Easter Bunny too,
And maybe the Great Pumpkin,
To name just a few!
An extra day off
Is hardly high treason;
It may be spent as you wish,
Regardless of reason.
One is never jailed
For not having a tree
For not going to church
For not spreading glee!
The court will uphold,
Seemingly contradictory causes,
Decreeing 'The Establishment' and 'Santa'
Both worthwhile claus(es).