(Apologies to Keats)

No, no, go not Prong B*, neither twist
The Court’s text, convoluted, for additional lines,
Nor suffer thy office to be bewitched
By regulatory visions, or imprecations in the Times;
Make not new rules impenetrable and scary,
Nor let reformers, nor the indomitable Bopp, be
Too present to your Psyche, nor the siren call
Of rule-writing an invitation to our miseries;
For rule after rule will come too readily,
And drown in confusion the voices of next Fall.

So when an urge to improve on Roberts shall fall
Sudden from the comments like October’s clouds;
That foster departures, from the plurality, all
And ignore the path through clamorous crowds:
Then satisfy thy needs with a reading, close,
Of the test that the controlling Justices gave:
Ads susceptible of no other reasonable interpretation,
Disclosed, funding that rides on what the wording shows:
E.g: no “Candidate”, “election”, “party”--no cries of “Knave!”
Or worse, being slurs on fitness or qualification.

Restraint is a thing of Beauty, that must not die;
And respect for Power’s Limits, always quick to slip
From hand and sight; and Simplicity highly prized,
Loosened by labored Complexity from our grip.
Yes, in the heart of a Rulemaking
Subversive designs and consequence bide their time:
All have observed them with their serpent tongues
Transformed into CFR print too fine.
So, amid tumult of Change and Strife, heads aching
We implore you: do not more than the Court has done.

*11 CFR § 100.22(b).             

Bob Bauer