I wouldn't want people checking in code that doesn't conform to the coding practices of the rest of the project, even if the code came from Ken Thompson himself

I wouldn't want people checking in code that doesn't conform to the coding practices of the rest of the project, even if the code came from Ken Thompson himself. If the coding practices are bad, his experience will hopefully allow him to convincingly argue this point. In any case, the company employs many other smart people too, and since the coding practices are there to facilitate collaboration, nobody should be above them.