Scalia Gets Most Laughs During Arguments
Antonin Scalia has been named the funniest justice of the term by the blog D.C. Dicta.
Scalia’s comments drew laughs 74 times during oral arguments in the court’s latest term, the blog reports. Second place went to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., whose comments produced laughter 23 times.
The blog came to its conclusions after examining transcripts of oral arguments into which the court reporter inserts the notation, “[Laughter.]” The job of picking the funniest justice is easier since oral argument transcripts began identifying the justices by name in 2004, the New York Times reported in a December 2005 article.
Scalia was also funniest justice in 2004-05, producing 77 laughs. Second that year was Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who got 45 laughs. But in 2007-08 Breyer came in third, with 21 laughs.
The Times concluded that the mood at the court has brightened under Roberts, with the court producing an average of 2.9 laughs per arguments in the 2005-06 term, up from 2.6 laughs the year before.
