He argues "Would you permit the computer of the Enterprise to refuse a refit?" going on to claim that Picard's reaction is, "emotional and irrational. You are endowing Data with human characteristics because it looks human, but it is not. If it were a box on wheels I would not be facing this opposition.".
The JAG officer concurs with Maddox and rules that Data is the property of Starfleet and cannot resign or refuse to co-operate. Picard requests a hearing to challenge the ruling and is placed in the position of being the defending attorney for Data while his senior officer, Commander Riker, is given the unenviable job of prosecuting attorney.
Riker opens his case by having Data define android which Data defines as "an automaton made to resemble a human being." Riker emphasizes "automaton" and "resembles." After demonstrating Data's abilities as a machine, Riker summarizes his argument:.
The commander is a physical representation of a dream; an idea conceived of by the mind of a man. Its purpose: to serve human needs and interests. It's a collection of neural nets and heuristic algorithms. It's response dictated by elaborate software written by a man. It's hardware built by a man. And now a man will shut it off. With that Riker reaches behind Data and turns the switch that shuts him down say "Pinocchio is broken. His strings have been cut." .
During a recess in the proceedings, Picard consults with Guinan, a wise alien on board the Enterprise and becomes convinced that the real issue in this case is the creation of a race of Data's to be enslaved to do man's bidding. He believes this issue has been obscured "behind a comfortable, easy euphemism-property" and is determined to challenge that thinking. In his opening defense Picard acknowledges that Data is a machine but comments that this is irrelevant, "We too are machines, just machines of a different type.
