The Billy Madison Denial Of Motion (Repost)

Another inside joke that gets repeated from time to time, and still funny.

A judge denies a motion citing the abject incomprehensibility of the motion, and cites -- really, with a footnote and everything -- an insult from the Adam Sandler movie Billy Madison.

Good stuff:

Defendant filed the above entitled motion. 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.¹

¹ Or, in the words of the competition judge to Adam Sandler’s title character in the movie, “Billy Madison,â€� after Billy Madison had responded to a question with an answer that sounded superficially reasonable but lacked any substance,

Mr. Madison, what you've just 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.

Not really out-of-character for the judge, though. 75% of his legal citations are to U.S. v. Fischbein, a case which only appears in the movie Fletch.

Thanks to Mrs. Peel for reminding me of this legal gem.

posted by Ace at 09:21 PM

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