While it's no surprise that old white guys like Bob Dylan, old white guys in power liking Bob Dylan is kinda ironic because you know, Dylan HATES The Man. The LA Times notes that "no musician's lyrics are more often cited than Dylan's in court opinions and briefs." This was especially true in the landmark ruling Record Buyers v. "Self Portrait" (392 US 515) in which Justice Thurgood Marshall—quoting the album in its entirety—declared that listening to Dylan's 1970 bomb was "akin to shoving glass shards into one's ear canal with a coathanger."
The article delves into why members of the legal profession quote Dylan, with one law professor saying, "Being a judge is a pretty cloistered existence…The chance to throw in a line from your favorite artist is tempting, a chance to let your freak flag fly."
Recently, Chief Justice Roberts quoted "Like a Rolling Stone" (When you got nothing / you got nothing to lose) in a dispute between telephone companies, but we can think of a song that wasn't quoted in the minority's dissent after the Citizens United ruling, that should have been.
