Ann Montgomery: Unworthy of the Robe
The Flying Imams’ lawsuit has been presided over by a judge who apparently lacks any imagination, if the following excerpt from her Not Jihadis ruling is any indicator:
The MAC Defendants have produced no evidence of a documented instance in which seatbelt extensions were used as a weapon or that law enforcement ever expressed concern about their use as a weapon. It is difficult to understand what danger a seatbelt extension poses that is not also posed by a sturdy belt with a large buckle. Even assuming the extensions could be employed as a weapon, the MAC Defendants have failed to offer a reasoned explanation of how Saleddin, who is completely blind, could pose such a threat.
Laughable on its face, if it didn’t involve such dangerous circumstances. The very first sentence shows the limits of her thinking: “We’ve never seen it happen, so it will never happen.” With that kind of thinking, we’d still be living in the Stone Age.
This judge can’t imagine how much easier it is to swing a seat belt strap over one’s head when both ends are detached. She also can’t imagine why a team preparing for an attack would want to have a weapon in reserve with a guy whom they knew, rather than trying to get another weapon on an aircraft they don’t know, from a flight crew they don’t know.
This isn’t a matter of law. This is a matter of street-smarts, where the law itself has become a weapon for the benefit of those who care nothing for the law. File this one under “Stupid, Vacuous Adults.”
For such legalistic, short-sighted sophistry, Ann Montgomery deserves to be removed from the bench, immediately.
(H/T: Scott Johnson)
