Let's say the ESA knows of some solid reasoning which will support its point for most reasonable people. If it does, it is certainly not presenting them in this legal brief. In that case, something is very wrong with our legal system, because then things like facts and coherent logic have a value of about ε, and that's harmful. And if that's the case, then you are right that it is not exactly fair to hold the ESA to what they've put down here, as though it's a position paper. But if that's what's happening, then to make that excuse for them (especially when they have not, as far as I know, written down the 'real argument' anywhere else) feels an awful lot like supporting a broken legal system, which I don't want to do.

I did think of your point as I was typing up my earlier response, however I decided I don't care. A legal brief and a position paper are not the same thing, but they should be correlated. And by 'correlated' I don't just mean that they share the same conclusion - they should be based on roughly the same reasoning. I know that you're sort of just supposed to use whatever tactics you can to win, and I recognize there is some value to having a system where the goal is to win rather than arrive at the truth. But if that system encourages twisting the facts to the point that you're basically just lying, then it goes too far. And I'm not going to encourage that by making the excuse "oh well they're lawyers so what did you expect". I demand better.

For what it's worth, while I do think our legal system has a great many problems, I don't think it is quite so bad as to support this hypothesis. I think the ESA has presented a poor argument because their position is poorly supported. I think they have twisted the facts and omitted other ones because they know this. I believe they are using these deceitful and deceptive tactics not because they are trying to support a reasonable cause within an unreasonable system, but because they trying to support an unreasonable cause within a framework that is, for all its faults, still sometimes capable for recognizing such bullshit for what it is.