Evan Stetford looked at the five scientist judges, "What do you all think?"
The five scientist judges exchanged glances and said, "...We think this rule itself is not very rigorous. Using it to determine whether a contestant is disqualified is indeed a bit too harsh."
"Eh? How can our rule not be rigorous? We've used it for decades, it's been the rule for eighteen contests, and we've never had this issue!" A Grant Branch judge squinted and glanced toward Autumn and Richard Stetford.
Richard Stetford still had that smiling expression.
Autumn Stetford curled one side of his lip.
Evan Stetford rubbed his temples, "So if we vote to decide whether Lawrence Winters should lose his qualification to participate, who supports? Who opposes?"
The ten judges discussed briefly and, as expected, ended up in a tie.
Five scientist judges opposed, five Grant Branch judges supported.
At this point, Quentin Parker, the Supreme Judge, had to step in.
