Agreed. However, it makes it easier to succeed in appealing a ruling calling it “arbitrary and capricious”.
Does it? To me, a 500 page report makes it more likely to be arbitrary. A non-arbitrary decision should be much more easily justified. A 500 page justification on its face seems like trying to bury the opposition in paperwork because your actual justification is vaporware.
This is common in legal arguments. You want to make your case as airtight as possible. Keep in mind that there is tons of space per page; not a dense essay.
Mathematical proofs are similar, rarely limited to a page. You want to leave little room for doubt.
No, page count is not a relevant metric for whether the applicable standard is met.
Hard to call it “arbitrary and capricious” with a straight face though
It is easy if you don't read any of the 500 pages and are simply incentivized (directly or not) and want to block the elimination of non-competes.