There was a misunderstanding in the reply - I didn't mean the judge took away or redefined rights, I mean she simply failed to grant Anna specific rights and just offered her citizenship. What that citizenship means (to an artificial) is up to the lawmakers - they could choose to redefine it so there's one set of rules for humans and another for artificials. Anna's rights change if the laws change. The important thing right now is that the government can't arrest her with the claim she's illegal anymore.

The clever part of that is the judge's decision will be harder to overturn that way because it doesn't grant any very specific rights that can be overturned easily. At any appeal, that's what Arnie can argue - that the decision is face-value and makes no claims about Anna's rights.





The problem with appeals is they have to prove there's no legal basis for the decision, or that the procedure was flawed. Judges generally have the power to swear in citizens that meet simple criteria, and marry people that meet certain criteria. Any appeal would have to prove that Anna didn't meet at least one of the requirements, or that procedure wasn't followed.

Side note: If Anna would have tried to marry for citizenship, one of the requirements is a blood screening - since she can't get one (her body fluid isn't compatible with human blood tests) *that* would be grounds for an appeal.

It's basically a gap in the system the judge took advantage of, it's something lawmakers never foresaw being used that way. They'll probably fix it by passing a new law, but in the mean time it's working for the purpose it was intended for.





Anna's personality had a *lot* to do with getting citizenship. She didn't speak out of turn, or get angry, or do anything basically that a scared human in court wouldn't do. Her behavior was familiar enough that it generated a lot of sympathy vs the faceless and unsympathetic U.S. Government, which people love to hate.