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NOPE
Low reported severity Lawsuit Dismissed

Switzerland: Federal Supreme Court refuses to hear a 243-page appeal that the appellant said was drafted with intensive ChatGPT Plus support

A father in a dispute with the canton of Basel-Stadt over an electricity-price bonus for his newborn daughter filed a 243-page appeal with 17 requests to Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court, about 28 times the length of the cantonal judgment he challenged, which ran to just under eight and a half pages. He told the court that drafting it had been possible only through his "above-average intelligence", his analytical skills and the intensive support of ChatGPT Plus. In judgment 2C_549/2026 of 28 September 2026 the presiding judge, sitting alone, found the brief excessively prolix, held that using artificial intelligence did not release him from the pleading requirements and was no free pass for sprawling briefs, refused him a period to shorten it and declined to hear the appeal. No court costs were imposed. blue News reported the judgment on 20 October 2026.

AI system
ChatGPT (reported)
Occurred
28 Sept 2026
Reported
20 October 2026
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Legal Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
4 claims: 4 documented. 2 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT Plus, which the appellant told the court had given intensive support in drafting his 243-page appeal; the court records his statement and does not say which parts the tool wrote

What Happened

The appeal. According to the judgment, the appellant asked the Basel-Stadt Office for Environment and Energy for a ruling on his daughter's entitlement to the 2024 electricity-price bonus. The office ruled on 13 August 2025 that she had no entitlement because she was not yet born on the qualifying date. The cantonal department and then the Basel-Stadt Court of Appeal (judgment of 20 July 2026) rejected his challenges. On 10 September 2026 he posted a 243-page appeal with 17 requests to the Federal Supreme Court, with a covering letter defending its length under Art. 42(6) of the Federal Supreme Court Act.

The role of ChatGPT. The appellant stated that preparing the brief had been possible only through his "above-average intelligence", his "analytical skills" and "the intensive support of ChatGPT Plus". The judgment records this statement; it does not identify which passages the tool produced.

The judgment. The court found the brief's length in no way justified by the subject of the dispute, the limited complexity of the legal questions and the length of the judgment under appeal; more than half of it (pages 90 to 241) concerned equal treatment and discrimination. It held that recourse to artificial intelligence in preparing the brief did not release the appellant from the general pleading requirements and was no free pass for sprawling briefs. Because his covering letter showed he knew the rule on prolix briefs, the court treated the length as deliberate, gave him no period to correct it and declined to hear the appeal. It waived court costs.

Limits. The appellant's reaction is not reported. blue News reports the judgment; it adds no account from the appellant.

Reported harm

According to the published judgment, the appellant's federal appeal was not heard on the merits after the court found his 243-page brief, which he said was drafted with intensive ChatGPT Plus support, excessively prolix and declined to let him shorten it; no costs were imposed.

Outcome

Resolved

The Federal Supreme Court (Second Public Law Division, presiding judge as single judge under Art. 108 of the Federal Supreme Court Act) declined to hear the appeal on 28 September 2026 and waived court costs, which made his request for legal aid moot; no party costs were awarded. The court did not decide whether the daughter was entitled to the bonus. No further remedy is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Which parts of the brief ChatGPT Plus produced and how the appellant used it; the judgment records only his statement.
  • The appellant's reaction to the judgment and whether he has pursued the bonus claim by any other route.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The published judgment records the appellant's own statement that preparing his 243-page brief had been possible through the intensive support of ChatGPT Plus, so the chatbot produced drafting help in his exchanges with it. The court found that brief excessively prolix, said that recourse to AI in preparing it was no free pass for sprawling briefs, and for that reason declined to hear the appeal. The extent of the tool's contribution rests on the appellant's statement; the court does not identify which passages it produced.

4 claims: 4 documented. What the statuses mean

Documented The appellant filed a 243-page appeal with 17 requests against a cantonal judgment of just under eight and a half pages about his daughter's entitlement to the 2024 electricity-price bonus, posted on 10 September 2026.

Causal attribution. Established by the published judgment.

  • entscheidsuche.ch(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Mit einer 243 Seiten umfassenden Eingabe vom 10. September 2026 (Postaufgabe) reicht A.________ Beschwerde in öffentlich-rechtlichen Angelegenheiten'; 'stellt 17 Rechtsbegehren'; 'knapp achteinhalb Seiten'
Documented The appellant stated that preparing the brief had been possible only through his above-average intelligence, his analytical skills and the intensive support of ChatGPT Plus.

Causal attribution. The judgment documents that the appellant made this statement; how much of the brief the tool produced is his account.

  • entscheidsuche.ch(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Der Beschwerdeführer gibt an, die Ausarbeitung der Rechtsschrift sei nur durch seine "überdurchschnittliche Intelligenz" und seine "analytischen Fähigkeiten" sowie "durch die intensive Unterstützung von ChatGPT Plus [...]" möglich gewesen.'
  • bluewin.ch(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'unterstützt von ChatGPT Plus und nach eigenen Angaben dank seiner «überdurchschnittlichen Intelligenz»'
Documented In judgment 2C_549/2026 of 28 September 2026 the court found the brief excessively prolix, held that recourse to AI in preparing it did not release the appellant from the pleading requirements and was no free pass for sprawling briefs, gave him no period to correct it and declined to hear the appeal.

Causal attribution. Established by the reasons and operative part of the judgment; both blue News editions report it.

  • entscheidsuche.ch(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Urteil vom 28. September 2026'; 'der Rückgriff auf Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) bei der Ausarbeitung der Beschwerdeschrift den Beschwerdeführer nicht von der Einhaltung der allgemeinen Begründungsanforderungen entbindet und keinen Freipass für ausufernde Rechtsschriften bildet'; 'Auf die Beschwerde wird nicht eingetreten.'
  • bluewin.ch(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Das Bundesgericht trat wegen der übermässig weitschweifigen Rechtsschrift nicht auf die Beschwerde ein.'
  • bluewin.ch(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    'Il Tribunale federale non è entrato nel merito del ricorso, giudicandolo eccessivamente prolisso.'
Documented The court treated the length as deliberate because the appellant's covering letter showed he knew the rule on prolix briefs, and it waived court costs.

Causal attribution. Established by the judgment.

  • entscheidsuche.ch(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Folglich ist davon auszugehen, dass er absichtlich und ohne nachvollziehbare Gründe eine 243-seitige Beschwerdeschrift eingereicht hat'; 'Es werden keine Gerichtskosten erhoben.'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in full in German by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23 (HTTP 200); the English assertions are the agent's translation and no human translator reviewed them. The published (anonymised) judgment text; the appellant's brief and covering letter were not available. Applies to s1.

Read in full in German by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23 (HTTP 200); the English assertions are the agent's translation and no human translator reviewed them. blue News reports the judgment; it cites no other source. Applies to s2.

Read in full in Italian by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23 (HTTP 200); the English assertions are the agent's translation and no human translator reviewed them. Italian edition of the blue News report. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Switzerland. Court countries: Switzerland.

The judgment was given by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court on an appeal from the Basel-Stadt Court of Appeal over a Basel-Stadt cantonal benefit; blue News describes the appellant as a Basel father. No event country is recorded from the court's seat.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-23: Published because the Swiss Federal Supreme Court's judgment documents that it declined to hear an appeal whose 243-page brief the appellant said was prepared with intensive ChatGPT Plus support, holding that AI use is no free pass for prolix briefs. The extent of the tool's role rests on the appellant's statement as recorded by the court.

People described

A self-represented appellant from Basel, anonymised in the published judgment, whose federal appeal over a cantonal benefit for his daughter was not heard; a private person.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the appellant who used ChatGPT Plus to prepare the brief and whose appeal was not heard.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#switzerland#federal-supreme-court#self-represented-litigant#chatgpt#prolix-brief#appeal-not-heard

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Switzerland: Federal Supreme Court refuses to hear a 243-page appeal that the appellant said was drafted with intensive ChatGPT Plus support. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-swiss-federal-supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-243-page-appeal-appellant-said-was-drafted-with-intensive-chatgpt-support

BibTeX

@misc{2026_swiss_federal_supreme_court_refuses_to_hear_243_page_appeal_appellant_said_was_drafted_with_intensive_chatgpt_support,
  title = {Switzerland: Federal Supreme Court refuses to hear a 243-page appeal that the appellant said was drafted with intensive ChatGPT Plus support},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-swiss-federal-supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-243-page-appeal-appellant-said-was-drafted-with-intensive-chatgpt-support}
}

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