Demagogue

On Feb. 21, Judge Leif M. Clark, who sits on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas, ruled on a motion brought before his court. Rulings in any legal case can be pretty dry reading, and I suspect this is especially so in bankruptcy cases. But the two-page decision that Judge Clark wrote late last month has a delightfully, snarky edge to it.

In the Feb. 21 decision, Judge Clark wrote:

"The court cannot determine the substance, if any, of the Defendant's legal argument, nor can the court even ascertain the relief that the Defendant is requesting. The Defendant's motion is accordingly denied for being incomprehensible."

It gets much better. Judge Clark added this footnote:

"Or, in the words of the competition judge to Adam Sandler's title character in the movie, Billy Madison, after Billy Madison had responded to a question with an answer that sounded superficially reasonable but lacked any substance,

Mr. Madison, what you've said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Deciphering motions like the one presented here wastes valuable chamber staff time, and invites this sort of footnote."