The New Mexico Wizard Hat Amendment: The Story Behind One of America's Oddest Proposed Laws

On this episode of Our American Stories, former state politician Duncan Scott shares the hilarious true story of how he pranked the New Mexico State Legislature, resulting in one of the strangest amendments ever proposed in American history.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
and we love your story. Send them to our American
Stories dot com. Everyone has that one funny friend, the
wise guy, the one that's mastered pranks as clutter comebacks,
or pulls humor out of the stranger situations. Maybe, well,

(00:32):
just maybe, if you're lucky, you're one of them. But
we all know at least one, and they have the
best stories. Today's wise Guy, Duncan Scott, hails from the
great state of New Mexico.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
When I was elected to the State Senate in New
Mexico in nineteen ninety two, I was on a path
of politics. But after I served four years in the
State Senate, I concluded, while it was an incredible honor
to repri resent the people who were in my district,
it was an absolute waste of my time. I was

(01:05):
a Republican. New Mexico is a heavily blue Democratic state,
so whatever Republican principles or philosophy I brought to the
State Senate, it was dead on arrival. An educated monkey
could have sat in my chair and it would have
made no difference whatsoever for the arc of New Mexico history.

(01:31):
When I did the Pointy Hat Bill, it was obvious
to me that if I proposed serious legislation, it wasn't
going anywhere. And the Pointy Hat Bill was really to
address the insanity defense plea. So I thought that satire
and humor was a better form for getting out the

(01:56):
idea that the insanity defense is way over used and inappropriately,
then drafting some technical change on the rules of evidence
that nobody would see and would follow sleep if they
read your listeners will have to go back to the
summer of ninety four and some will be alive. And

(02:18):
my story with the Pointy Hat Bill starts with OJ Simpson.
You recall he was driving with Al Dowling down the
Santa Monica Freeway in the White Bronco and America was
captured by it that night, and I was watching it
on TV and the commentators were saying, OJ will plead

(02:41):
the insanity defense. He's clearly done it and that's his
only option. Of course, later that proved not to be true.
But as I watched the White Bronco and then reflected
on it over the next few days, I came to
the idea that I would draft the pointy Hat bill

(03:03):
and introduce it when OJ pled the insanity defense. So
we now know that OJ not only didn't plead the
insanity defense, but he was acquitted at all charges by
a jury the next year. So I drafted this bill

(03:24):
and had it in my Senate bill drawer, not introduced,
and I would show it to some of my friends
in the Senate that I'll have a good laugh, and
we yucked about it, and I didn't think too much
about it. Then one night a benign bill came out
on the Senate floor to relicense psychologists. There was a

(03:45):
sunsetting provision, and it was really an incontroversial or non
controversial bill. And while it's on the floor, a friend
of mine who had seen my pointy Hat bill turn
around and said, hey, why don't you attach your bill
as a floor amendment to that bill. I said, that's
a great idea grab the Senate. So my colleague stood

(04:08):
up and started debating the bill, which gave me time
to get out scissors and tape, and I cut up
my bill and taped it to a floor amendment sheet
and ran it up to the Reader of the Senate. Now,
at that point, normally the reader would photocopy the bill
and distribute it to the forty two senators. Instead, I

(04:29):
asked permission for the reader to read my floor amendment.
When a psychologist or psychiatrist testifies during a defendant's competency hearing,
the psychologist or psychiatrist shall wear a cone shaped hat
that is not less than two feet tall. The surface
of the hat shall be imprinted with stars and lightning bolts. Additionally,

(04:53):
the psychologist or psychiatrist shall be required to don a
white beard that is not less than eighteen inches in length,
and shall punctuate crucial elements of his testimony by stabbing
the air with a Wand whenever a psychologist or psychiatrist
provides expert testimony regarding a defendant's competency, the bailiff shall

(05:16):
contemporaneously dim the courtroom lights and administer two strikes to
a Chinese gong. Not surprisingly, the Senate got a good laugh,
and then I stood up, because it's bad form to
joke with people's bills, So I asked to withdraw my amendment.

(05:38):
Instead of the body allow me to withdraw it. The
Senate passed my amendment. So then I stood up and said,
I have so little control or power in this body.
I can't even kill my own bills. So at that point,
the benign licensing of psychologists now has my pointy hat
bill on it. And the sponsor of this benign bill,

(05:59):
Senator Romero, was standing there sort of shell shocked and worse.
He had a psychologist next to him who was the
expert to testify on the bill if needed, and now
his bill has my point, he had amendment on it.
So I went over and I apologized to Senator Romero
and to the psychologist, saying, you know, I did my

(06:20):
best not to get it attached, but here we go.
And then the bill went over to the House. The
House stripped the amendment off, sent it back to the Senate.
We concurred, and that's how the bill made its way
through the legislative process. Really on a happy accident one night,
late late at night. I did not run again and

(06:43):
did not do much in terms of politics in New Mexico. Thereafter.
I really focused on my law practice, raising a son,
having a wonderful marriage, and you know, mom, pop stuff,
I've had one full life. It's it's been a great adventure.
But I was through with politics at that point, and.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Great work to Joey for bringing us that piece, and
a special thanks to Duncan Scott. The greatest political prank
in American history, the Pointy Hat Bill the story behind
it here on our American Stories.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Folks.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
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