Tough as a $3 steak?

God Bless Eugene Meehan for his wonderful Lang Michener Supreme Court of Canada LawLetter. The October 23 issue quotes a faboulous piece of writing, from a court decision no less. I reproduce the quote here for your reading pleasure:

Here's Chief Justice Roberts' opening paragraph in his U.S. Supreme Court judgment - very much a film noir/crime novel/Lord Denning opening:

"Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a three-dollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He'd made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood. "Devlin spotted him: a lone man on the corner. Another approached. Quick exchange of words. Cash handed over; small objects handed back. Each man then quickly on his own way. Devlin knew the guy wasn't buying bus tokens. He radioed a description and Officer Stein picked up the buyer. Sure enough: three bags of crack in the guy's pocket. Head downtown and book him. Just another day at the office."

This lovely prose is from is the opening paragraph of Chief Justice Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court in a (dissenting) judgment in Pennsylvania v. Nathan Dunlap, that came down on October 14, 2008. Just in case you are thirsting for more.