This expletive-fuelled — but strangely nearly cogent — notice to a US federal court judge may be the rudest official legal document ever
One of the strongest arguments against the last government’s slash-and-burn of civil legal aid was that the cuts will remove lawyers from the equation and clog courts with litigants-in-person, who may have strong points, but will make a rambling mess of their cases.
Well, if this example from the US is an indication of what we have to look forward to, some might cry: bring it on — if only for the comedy value.
Meet Floridian Tamah Jada Clark. She is a woman who doesn’t take any sh*t from the bench. We use that word and construction advisedly, as it is exactly in the spirit of Clark’s 34-page submission to the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta Division).
To put it simply, and in language Clark would understand, the litigant-in-person tears Judge Willis B Hunt Jr a new a*shole.
Our friends at Above the Law in the States have unearthed this written submission to the court from last week, in which Clark unleashes a fusillade of expletives at the bench far too numerous to recite in full.
But here’s a taster from the just the first page:
“Don’t you ever again in your mother*ucking [sic] life attempt to disrespect me, my family or our status again. Keep our names out of your unworthy mouth — you old IMPOTENT geezer.”
The notice itself is headed:
“To f*ck this court and everything it stands for.”
Robust advocacy, indeed — and let’s face it, what member of the English bar won’t have harboured similar sentiments regarding certain judges in the past.
The thing about Clark’s submission is that while her style is peppered with obscenities — albeit, coyly modified with asterisks — she still writes in a relatively lucid and grammatically correct manner … mostly.
Clark also throws loads of law and legal argument into the mix — whether any of it is remotely valid is open to debate and analysis by those more au fait with US jurisprudence than those in the Legal Cheek offices.
But at least Clark gets a gold star for trying — and for personality.