The first lawsuit didn't target the framework.
It targeted the clock.
Aaliyah read the filing early in the morning, the legal language dense but unmistakable in its intent. The plaintiff, an institution flagged repeatedly for delayed compliance, was arguing that enforced timelines constituted procedural harm.
Not harm to outcomes.
Not harm to people.
Harm to pace.
"They're saying time pressure compromised deliberation," Elise said during the emergency call. "That it forced rushed decisions."
Aaliyah listened without interrupting, eyes scanning the highlighted sections.
"They're reframing accountability as coercion," Rowan said.
"Yes," Aaliyah replied. "Which means they've run out of other angles."
The lawsuit wasn't loud.
It wasn't framed as defiance.
It was framed as protection, of process, of fairness, of institutional autonomy.
Aaliyah understood the move immediately.
If they could make time itself seem dangerous, they could destabilize everything built on it.
