Agreed; Silver is hard-nosed on the bench, but she twists and turns unpredictably and seems to contradict to her own words as she goes along. On one hand she says USAPA is on dangerous ground for seeking to overturn an arbitration award, and then she says USAPA doesn't have to adopt the NIC. Or she says that the Company's claim is ripe giving her full jurisdiction to provide judicial relief from their Hobson's choice, and then says she wishes she could have gone farther to provide relief - while providing no actual relief at all because she is constrained by the Ninth who only ruled on ripeness rather than the merits. Then she asks what happens to the west claim regarding the MOU and a DFR if the merger fails; the west attorney tells her they would have no basis to make a claim under that scenario, but then she declares the matter to be ripe and pushes forward despite the DOJ lawsuit that may preclude the merger possibility. I can't even begin to follow her, but if I had to guess, I would take the most likely outcome gleaned from what she says and then figure her next statement will be the opposite of what logic would dictate. If that's true, then USAPA getting a smack-down in her courtroom prior to a final ruling might prove to be good news for the east, until another appeal that is.