By: Ben Phillips*
Abstract
This Article investigates the sixty references to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot that have appeared in judicial opinions over the past half-century. The Article first provides background about the play’s cultural ubiquity and how it is viewed in the legal community. Next, the Article provides a categorization of judicial references to the play which range from superficial references to “waiting” to thoughtful engagement with the play’s deeper themes. The Article explores how the many references to Waiting for Godot provide an effective illustration of the benefits, dangers, and potential for judges’ use of literary references in general, as well as what such references can reveal about judges and the legal system. The Article concludes with an invitation for lawyers and judges to use Beckett’s play as an opportunity for self-reflection and to locate themselves within its characters and circumstance. This Article, like the play it focuses on, reaches for humanity amid a world that too often leaves everyone waiting.
*Ben Phillips is a voting rights and redistricting attorney practicing in Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. in Political Science and Drama from the University of Washington and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Thanks to Professor Frances DeLaurentis for feedback and support on this Article’s first draft, and to the caring and diligent editors of the PSLR who saw a place in the Journal for it. This piece is dedicated to my Godot compatriots, Spencer Hamp, Jay Myers, Nate Pringle, and Bobbin Ramsey; to Vicki Chaney, my high school drama teacher who first introduced me to the play; and to Jená Cane, whom I feel immeasurably Lucky to have known. © 2025, Ben Phillips.