Nuts. Judicial Charade. Mess. Those are not words judges typically use to describe their own work. But that’s what the U.S. Court of Appeals for Eleventh Circuit did in a 8-4 split 153-page en banc opinion debating federal minimum sentence mandates for violent crime.

The package released late Thursday includes a majority opinion from eight judges, a separate opinion from five of those concurring but explaining why, and two dissents joined by the four in the minority—plus a call for help from Congress to rewrite the Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984.