Novel opening paragraph

Here's an unusual starting paragraph to this unpub from 4/3:

It is the rare case that leaves us scratching our heads and asking, “Why are we here?” This is such a case. The parties are in full agreement as to the relief sought by the appeal yet remain two ships passing in the night. The underlying action was settled, the settlement has been fully satisfied, and plaintiff HK Hong Mei Tang International Co. Limited (HK) already agreed in a writing filed with the trial court to the very relief sought by defendants Grace Hua Wu and Asia Pacific TW International Inc. (collectively, Wu) on appeal—that the judgment entered against them on July 27, 2023 (the July 27, 2023 order and judgment), be vacated and the action be dismissed with prejudice. Yet still, here we are.

The NLJ has At Supreme Court These Days, the Liberal Justices Are 'Textualists' Too

Kagan considers herself a "good textualist" and consistently credits the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, her former hunting buddy, with making the plain language of the law the central focus of modern statutory interpretation cases. She's not afraid of calling out her colleagues, particularly her Republican-appointed ones, when she thinks they're falling short of the standard they themselves claim to follow.