by
Collection
of
the
Supreme
Court
of
the
United
States
via
Getty
Images
There
was
a
refreshing
change
of
pace
during
recent
Supreme
Court
oral
arguments,
when,
instead
of
the
barely
concealed
hostility
and
opinion-by-opinion
sniping
that
defined
the
Court’s
sprawling
tariffs
decision,
a
few
justices
decided
to
take
a
beat,
crack
a
joke,
and
acknowledge
the
absurdity
of
their
own
output.
During
arguments
in
Enbridge
Energy
v.
Nessel,
the
Court
briefly
stepped
away
from
the
now-familiar
dynamic
of
public
judicial
feuding
and
leaned
into
something
far
rarer
—
self-deprecating
humor
about
the
institution
itself.
For
a
Court
that
recently
used
some
170
pages
to
yell
at
itself
in
formal
legal
prose,
the
levity
landed
as
a
small
but
welcome
palate
cleanser.
Enter
Samuel
Alito,
who
immediately
seized
the
opportunity
for
some
rare
bench
banter.
“Well,
if
—
well
—”
Alito
began,
pausing
just
long
enough
for
the
room
to
sense
where
this
was
going.
(laughter)
“That’s
certainly
a
goal
to
aim
for.”
(more
laughter)
And
then,
because
the
Court
cannot
resist
a
little
intra-chambers
meta
commentary,
Alito
added:
“I
felt
very
left
out
in
the
tariffs
case.
Justice
Sotomayor
didn’t
write
and
I
didn’t
write
opinions.
But,
if…”
At
which
point
Sonia
Sotomayor
swooped
in
to
land
the
punchline:
“Maybe
we’ll
have
a
chance
here.”
This
is
what
passes
for
Supreme
Court
comedy.
When
advocates
are
openly
begging
for
brevity
and
the
justices
are
cracking
jokes
about
who
didn’t
get
to
write,
you
know
the
Court
is
at
least
dimly
aware
that
maybe,
just
maybe,
170
pages
is
a
lot.
To
be
fair,
this
is
about
as
close
as
the
Supreme
Court
ever
gets
to
admitting
excess.
For
a
fleeting
moment,
the
justices
acknowledged
what
every
clerk,
practitioner,
and
long-suffering
reader
already
knows:
judicial
maximalism
is
exhausting
(even
—
or
maybe
especially
—
when
it’s
filled
with
judicial
sniping).
Will
Enbridge
Energy
v.
Nessel
be
a
case
that
produces
a
tight,
elegant
opinion
that
clocks
in
under
triple
digits?
Who
knows!
But
hope
springs
eternal.
After
all,
as
Justice
Alito
put
it,
it’s
“certainly
a
goal
to
aim
for.”
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].