When describing the Supreme Court, the first word to come to mind is not usually "funny." Some current and past justices do, however, enjoy using the bulliest of pulpits to crack a joke or two. SCOTUSblog has broken down the laugh counts to determine who the funniest current justice is, as well as the frequency of the targets of their jokes.
Law professor Jay Wexler pioneered the analysis of humor at the Supreme Court in a 2005 article, in which he counted the number of times "(Laughter)" appeared in transcripts. Wexler found that Antonin Scalia got the most laughs by far, with 1.027 per argument, with Ruth Bader Ginsburg saving her voice for fervent dissents, with a mere 0.053 per argument. Clarence Thomas scored a zero, as he was still maintaining his vow of silence at that time. Wexler cautions that transcripts do not distinguish between a polite chuckle and a guffaw.
So, taking these results with an obligatory grain of salt, SCOTUSblog found that the current justice who elicits the most laughter is Neil Gorsuch. This analysis counts the total number of laughs, not the laughs per argument. Gorsuch came out way ahead, with 135 laughs from 2022 to 2024, while Elena Kagan and John Roberts trailed with 93 and 89, respectively.
There were five types of humor found in the transcripts: making fun of the lawyers, making fun of fellow justices, self-deprecating jokes, hypotheticals illuminating absurdity, and misspeaks or accidental interruptions. The majority of the jokes were at the expense of other lawyers. Imagine reaching the pinnacle of your legal career, arguing in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, and getting made fun of. Other justices were the butt of the joke 11% of the time. The other three categories made up less than 10% of the jokes.
So, as the court works to dismantle American democracy, take heart that they are having a good laugh while they do it.
Previously:
• Noted bigot asks the Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality
• Report: Supreme Court leak helped overturn Roe
• Supreme Court justice cites Dr. Seuss
