The original post: /r/glitch_in_the_matrix by /u/crimsonlaw on 2025-03-10 20:56:31.

I work for the supreme court of my state. I recently had a case come across my desk where the party bringing the appeal claimed he was denied certain relief. He attached an order evidencing this denial. However, there is no record of this order ever being issued. The lower court’s clerk’s office has a log of all activity in this case, and the only order that issued was one granting the relief the dude wanted with the same date and time as the one he sent us. The state’s IT office and our IT office got involved but can’t explain how the order I have in my hands came into existence.

The order looks to be legit. The guy bringing the appeal is in prison, so he doesn’t have access to anything along the lines of Photoshop. The wording of the order is consistent with other denial orders from this lower court. It has the court’s seal, is properly signed, and has the court’s computer generated “issued” stamp with the time and date it allegedly issued.

Everyone who looks at says it looks like a valid, legit order. There was even some talk of opening a criminal investigation into the lower court clerk’s office until both IT offices said there was no record of this order ever being issued. They said the order I have doesn’t exist according to any audit logs or records. Yet it is sitting on my desk right now. I can’t explain this one!