Amicus Brief
By Ryccia

If it pleases the court, I wish to submit my opinion on this matter for your consideration in order to challenge the logic behind this petition.

What is a "day"? One could say it is the time period when exactly 24 hours pass. However, in practice, this term is more vague than most people would assume. Allow me to bring your attention to the Legislative Procedure Act. Nowhere does it specify what a "day" is exactly in mathematical terms, and so there can be more flexible and reasonable interpretations of what it even constitutes. Furthermore, the LPA does make use of hours for other procedures, clearly distinguishing between the concept of an "hour" and a "day". These are two separate concepts in this document, and while the former is a strict mathematical measure of time, the latter is more vague.

To illustrate my point, I shall set two timers for the court's perusal: one ending two minutes before this post and another ending at around two minutes after in five days. Now, as we let those clocks tick, consider what you would tell me after the timers end. Would you really say "oh, four days, 23 hours and 58 minutes have passed", or "five days and two minutes have passed"? No, that would be absurd. It flies in the face of every single notion of common sense. It is technically correct, but that is not remotely what we would often think. Wouldn't you reasonably say instead "five days have passed", even though the timers were not set for an exact interval of 120 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, 0 milliseconds, 0 nanoseconds and what other miniscule subdivisions of time have you?

Another instance of such uncertainty can be illustrated by the following: say you are in an 18 hour, 3 minute and one second flight starting at 6:03:04 AM and ending exactly at 10:06:05 PM. While it is perfectly reasonable to say "man, I spent 18 hours on that flight", and it would be technically correct to state that "oh man, I was on that plane for 18 hours, 3 minutes and one second!", would it also not be perfectly logical and acceptable to also say the following?

"I was on that flight the whole day!"

These examples demonstrate the flexibility and hazy edges of the term "day". As the law doesn't specifically define it mathematically, there can be more than one perspective to it. 118 hours can be "five days". Seldom is it "four with 22 hours" in almost all contexts. 120 hours and 22 minutes can be "five days". 122 hours can be "five days". There is a certain vagueness to it, isn't there? It is not one point that solely and only defines the concept in question, but a myriad of points in time that can be true or false depending on the circumstances and the context involved.

Therefore, as the timer was set at a reasonable hour despite the unorthodox length of the vote, it remains a valid and reasonable interpretation of what can constitute "five days". The legislator @philipmacaroni changed their vote at the legal and reasonable time period designated by the Chair, which can logically fall under the definition of "five days". This change is valid, and so the vote in question stands at 25 Ayes, 17 Nays, and 9 Abstentions.