[GOPrincess]

Yes, I don't get this. I was a legal secretary in CA for 10 years and there were times attorneys would draft a handwritten stipulation in court and have it signed! If they were arguing about that semicolon all day, there's no reason on earth a new one couldn't have been printed and messengered to the courthouse, if the judge refused to strike it out himself (which I believe he could do...).

[Don Joe]

Yes, I don't get this. I was a legal secretary in CA for 10 years and there were times attorneys would draft a handwritten stipulation in court and have it signed! If they were arguing about that semicolon all day, there's no reason on earth a new one couldn't have been printed and messengered to the courthouse, if the judge refused to strike it out himself (which I believe he could do...).

The only way to "not get it" is to accept at face value (with a straight face, no less!) the idea that "the semicolon" was the real issue.

This is a travesty of justice, that's all. No biggie. If it wasn't the semicolon, it would have been "the top margins on your papers aren't in accord with our local court rules (just revised this morning)."