Somehow, I missed that Dahlia Lithwick’s dispatch from the Supreme Court arguments in Virginia v. Black hit the net yesterday. In the course of a single article, Lithwick dubs the case A Charlie Brown Redneck Christmas, compares Clarence Thomas’ rare speaking role to Darth Vader’s proclamation of paternity to Luke Skywalker, and acknowledges the tendency of interracial couples in New York City to make out in public while bound together by Saran Wrap. (OK, so she may be sensationalizing a bit with that last one…) In any event, it’s classic Dahlia, and similar to what she suspects about the other Justices, Chief Justice Rehnquist’s absence seems to have caused her to loosen up a bit more than usual.