Someone in the legal community has a lot of time on their hands, a wicked sense of humor and excellent forging skills.
Earlier today, a document (pdf.) began circulating with what looked like an order by the California Supreme Court for supplemental briefing in the landmark same-sex marriage case argued just last week.
The fake order’s heading format replicates the real court’s orders to a T, while the bottom of the forged document ends with the flourished signature of “George,” as in Chief Justice Ronald George. It looks realistic until one reads the six questions posed to attorneys — questions that reflect someone’s twisted take on what happened during last week’s arguments.
For example:
“If one child can have two mothers, or two fathers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, can one law be defended by two state officials?”
“Assuming for the sake of argument that words matter, what word am I thinking of now?”
“How much reliance should we place on an interim report from a legislative commission from another state? Can we out-source our legislative process to New Jersey?”
The first question parodied Justice Joyce Kennard, who during arguments ended a query with the words “blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., etc.” The second plays on several assertions during arguments about whether the word “marriage” mattered. And the third refers to a recent government report out of the Garden State that was negative about that state’s civil unions.
Whoever authored the bogus order obviously wanted to momentarily freak out the extremely briefed-out attorneys on both sides of the issue. But it also shows that a sense of humor is always a welcome thing.
Oh, and by the way, the answer to Question 6? It was George.
— Mike McKee
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