By Captain Pyke | October 31, 2010 - 9:16 pm

In a recent opinion on the case Robinson v. Crown Cork and Seal filed by the Texas Supreme Court, our favorite Vulcan was cited. The case was a challenge to the constitutionality of part of House Bill 4 (2003), which retroactively eliminated all pending and future asbestos claims against Crown Cork & Seal Co, as successor to Mundet Cork Corp. The underlying claims were brought by John Robinson and his wife Barbara against Crown and others. Mr. Robinson was a 20-year U.S. Navy veteran who developed mesothelioma following asbestos exposure during his service as a boiler tender.

Texas Supreme court Justice Don R. Willett cited Spock and "Star Trek II: The Wraith of Khan" in the opinion filed October 22nd, 2010:

Appropriately weighty principles guide our course. First, we recognize that police power draws from the credo that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Second, while this maxim rings utilitarian and Dickensian (not to mention Vulcan21), it is cabined by something contrarian and Texan: distrust of intrusive government and a belief that police power is justified only by urgency, not expediency.

Footnote 21 reads:

See STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (Paramount Pictures 1982). The film references several works of classic literature, none more prominently than A Tale of Two Cities. Spock gives Admiral Kirk an antique copy as a birthday present, and the film itself is bookended with the book's opening and closing passages. Most memorable, of course, is Spock's famous line from his moment of sacrifice: "Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh . . ." to which Kirk replies, "the needs of the few."

According to many sources online, this effectively makes Spock a legal authority for interpreting the Texas Constitution.

(sources sfwa.org, mizozo.com, & www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us)