Pictures in Legal Opinions: It Is About Time

Legal opinions are painful to read for several reasons.  First, the format is rigid and formulaic.  The playful formatting of e.e. cummings is, as they say, "bad precedent." Second, legal opinions are the bullhorns of an already self-proud group of writers.  What I write is the law, and the law is what I write.  Fortunately, this is tempered by the ridged and formulaic formatting.  Third, there are no pictures -- until Judge Richard Posner, of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, found the "Save Image As" option on his web browser.

From Zazzle

In the Gonzalez-Servin v. Ford Motor Co. opinion, Judge Posner included two illustrations taken from the Internet.  The images were inserted in the opinion to illustrate the point that an appellate attorney cannot ignore dispositive precedent.  "The ostrich is a noble animal, but not a proper model for an appellate advocate."  The acerbic tone of a judge is only made more poignant by the inclusion of photos of an ostrich and an attorney, each with its head in the sand.  Hopefully this is the start of a new trend in American Jurisprudence.  At least Judge Posner is continuing this legal precedent.  In Grayson v. Schuler, he included an image of Bob Marley to illustrate dreadlocks.