Providing more confirmation of the proliferation of SCOTUS amicus briefs, the Onion (yes, America’s Finest News Source) filed one in a Novak v. City of Parma. It will likely be the most widely read brief of the term (certainly for a cert petition) if Twitter is any guide and compete for having the most social value. As the Readers Digest used to say (maybe still does), “Laughter is the Best Medicine” and certainly beats ponderous boredom (i.e, repeating arguments already made to please whoever is paying or to pad the author’s resume or cv), the stock-in-trade of too many amicus briefs.
It’s worth reading if you, like me, like parody. For example, I had missed that the Onion had broke the Mar-a-Lago nuclear secrets story back in 2017 until I read the brief (fn 2).
Opinion below for anyone who wants to see what can happen when you parody people in power without a sense of humor or proportion.
As persuasive as the brief may sound read alone, I understand cops’ qualified immunity is a tough nut to crack. With the current SCOTUS, making free exercise of religion First Amendment claims (not free speech) might have a better chance. For the Onion, parody as religion doesn’t seem too much of a stretch.
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