Heading down a bad path

Yesterday, my son was done with his homework.  I asked him to please put away the dishes, and he would not because he wanted to go on the Internet.  He asked if I could help.  I said I would, if he would help me scrub down the bathtub.  He only wanted to do the tub and not the dishes!  No way--no Internet. He went to his room to do nothing (and I mean nothing).  After finishing with the tub, I decided to try a little reverse psychology--Sure!  Let's go on the internet, since it's more important than anything!  Let's do it! Good thing:  he did not yell back at me; didn't swear, etc.  AND he didn't go on the Internet either.  (However, he didn't do the dishes either.) Bad thing:  this morning, instead of just pushing the limits on being on time to go to school (I drive him), he decided to be out&out late.  (School starts at 7:30, he didn't leave his room till 7:55--even if I tried to drag him out, he would have started punching & I'm not going there.) So I called the school, explained the situation, told them I was not going to write him a note (yes, it's gonna count as a "cut" and he may lose credit, but I told them that was his problem, not mine.  I went to my classes). They suggested a court intervention.  Apparently, I can request something like this & it's supposed to put the fear of God in the kids.  I'm still waiting for the specifics, though.  Will it work?  Or make things worse?