Post by mhbruin on Aug 11, 2020 13:32:13 GMT -8
Wisconsin Democrats say that Kanye West missed the deadline to file his paperwork to be on the state’s presidential ballot by 14 seconds. In a 23-page response filed Monday and obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, West’s lawyer Michael Curran considers the nature of time itself to argue that 14 seconds after the stated cut off of 5 p.m. was still, technically, 5 p.m.
"The statutory provision does not distinguish between minutes and seconds," the document said. “For the average observer, arriving before 5:01pm is arriving 'not later' than 5pm. The phrase 'not later' is particularly instructive in that it indicates the presumption that the seconds from 5:00:00 to 5:00:59 are inclusive to 5pm. As the statute states '5 p.m.', for something to be filed later than '5 p.m.' it would have to be filed at 5:01 p.m.”
According to [the Democrats' lawyer] Wittman, the standards of clock time are different in different contexts. "5 p.m." may indeed encompass the seconds after 5 o'clock in some contexts, but not in others.
“With clock time you have a directionality of time and a given deadline is fulfilled when this exact time is reached. Not at 4:59:58, or 4:59:59, but at 5:00:00,” he said. “In reality you give leeway." For example, he said that someone arriving at an airport gate seconds after 5 p.m., when it is meant to close, but before 5:01, may still be allowed entry.
But in other places—such as basketball games and, possibly, political campaigns—clocks create hard deadlines. “5 p.m. is, technically speaking, over at 5:00:01 even if 5:01 has not begun,” Wittman said.
"The statutory provision does not distinguish between minutes and seconds," the document said. “For the average observer, arriving before 5:01pm is arriving 'not later' than 5pm. The phrase 'not later' is particularly instructive in that it indicates the presumption that the seconds from 5:00:00 to 5:00:59 are inclusive to 5pm. As the statute states '5 p.m.', for something to be filed later than '5 p.m.' it would have to be filed at 5:01 p.m.”
According to [the Democrats' lawyer] Wittman, the standards of clock time are different in different contexts. "5 p.m." may indeed encompass the seconds after 5 o'clock in some contexts, but not in others.
“With clock time you have a directionality of time and a given deadline is fulfilled when this exact time is reached. Not at 4:59:58, or 4:59:59, but at 5:00:00,” he said. “In reality you give leeway." For example, he said that someone arriving at an airport gate seconds after 5 p.m., when it is meant to close, but before 5:01, may still be allowed entry.
But in other places—such as basketball games and, possibly, political campaigns—clocks create hard deadlines. “5 p.m. is, technically speaking, over at 5:00:01 even if 5:01 has not begun,” Wittman said.
