During oral arguments Tuesday in the case National Meat Association v. Harris, the Justice Stephen Breyer asked if the Court had to “write an 11-part opinion” dissecting each individual provision of a state statute to determine if it was preempted by a federal meat inspection law.

“I’m not trying to get out of work,” Breyer said, drawing laughter from the audience. “I just want to know.”

Without missing a beat, Justice Antonin Scalia chimed in.

“I’d like to get out of the work, to tell you the truth,” Scalia said as the crowd laughed again.

This week, Scalia broke open a wide lead in this terms funniest justice contest, earning a whopping eight laughs during oral arguments. Breyer earned three, while Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg each made the crowd chuckle once.

Here are the standings so far:

Justice Antonin Scalia: 15

Justice Stephen Breyer: 10

Chief Justice John G. Roberts: 7

Justice Elena Kagan: 1

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 1

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 0

Justice Clarence Thomas (silence continues): 0

Justice Samuel Alito: 0

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 0

During oral arguments Tuesday in the case Rehberg v. Paulk, Justice Stephen Breyer questioned whether the Court was required to look to common law to determine if an investigator who lied during grand jury testimony was immune from suit.

“Well, one brief disagreement with your question, Your Honor,” began attorney Andrew Pincus.

“You can’t disagree with my question,” quipped Breyer, spurring laughter from the audience and other justices.

Breyer edged out Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts as the Funniest Justice of the week – and is now tied with Scalia as the funniest justice of the term so far. Breyer drew laughs during oral arguments five times this week, while Scalia earned four laughs and Roberts earned three.

Here are the standings for the term after three weeks:

Justice Antonin Scalia: 7

Justice Stephen Breyer: 7

Chief Justice John G. Roberts: 6

Justice Elena Kagan: 1 (We heard Kagan get a laugh this week, but the court reporter didn’t – and we count according to the transcript.)

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 0

Justice Clarence Thomas (the silent type): 0

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 0

Justice Samuel Alito: 0

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 0

During oral arguments Wednesday in the case considering whether strips searches of individuals jailed on minor offenses violates the Fourth Amendment, attorney Carter Phillips was asked how close prison officials get to the inmates.

“It almost certainly would have been about an arm’s length, because [the jail officials are] handing them clothes to change into,” Phillips said. “It is sort of hard to be longer than arm’s length and actually get the clothes into his hand.”

“Two arms’ lengths,” corrected Justice Antonin Scalia. “I mean, [the inmate] could reach out, right?”

And with that laugh, Scalia moves into a tie with the chief justice in our weekly Funniest Justice tally. Here are the standings after week 2:

Chief Justice John G Roberts: 3

Justice Antonin Scalia: 3

Justice Stephen Breyer: 2

Justice Elena Kagan: 1

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 0

Justice Clarence Thomas (the silent type): 0

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 0

Justice Samuel Alito: 0

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 0

During oral arguments in the case Maples v. Thomas, attorney John C. Neiman, Jr., sought to explain why a state’s attorney sent a notice to a defendant – as opposed to his lawyer – that his time to file a petition for relief had expired.

“At that point in time, the State case was over,” Neiman siad. “So, it was hardly clear if [the prosecutor] was going to do something that he didn’t have to do under the rules.”

“Why did he do it, then?” asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts. “Just gloating that the fellow had lost?”

That remark earned the chief justice one of the three laughs he drew during this term’s first week of oral arguments, putting him in the lead of our first weekly tally of The Funniest Justice. The ever comedic Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer were right behind him with two laughs apiece, and Justice Elena Kagan also drew chuckles from the audience once.

Here are the week 1 standings:

Chief Justice John G Roberts: 3

Justice Antonin Scalia: 2

Justice Stephen Breyer: 2

Justice Elena Kagan: 1

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 0

Justice Clarence Thomas (the silent type): 0

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 0

Justice Samuel Alito: 0

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 0

During oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices can ask some wacky questions.

In a speech last week before a local bar association in New York State, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recapped some of her favorite doozies from the term just past.

“Questions from the bench ranged from the historical: ‘[W]hat [did] James Madison th[ink] about video games[?]’” Ginsburg noted, referring to Justice Samuel Alito’s question in the violent video games case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn., “to the practical: ‘[I]sn’t . . . evidence always . . . destroyed when . . . marijuana [once possessed by a suspect] is . . . smoked?  Isn’t it being burnt up?’” That question was from Justice Anthony Kennedy in the search and seizure case Kentucky v. King.

“Colleagues have been fearful: ‘Does al-Qaeda know all this stuff?’” she continued, a reference to Justice Antonin Scalia’s query in NASA v. Nelson.

Another kicker, also posed by Scalia in Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano: “What do you think about Satan?”

Ginsburg observed that she herself  “uttered none of the just-recited lines.  For, as the New York Times reported, based originally on an empirical study by a former law clerk of mine, when it comes to oral argument, I am—quote—‘ the least funny Justice who talks.’”

[DC Dicta would like the justice to note that, according to our count, that is not true. Last term Ginsburg proved to be funnier than Justices Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.]

“Mr. Rosenkranz,” Justice Antonin Scalia said to attorney Joshua Rosenkranz during oral arguments yesterday in Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan – the last argument of the term, “is the vote of a judge in a case like the vote of a legislator? Is that speech? Because judges are subject to ethical rules which prohibit their participating if there would be ‘an appearance of impropriety.’ If there’s anything vaguer than that I can’t imagine what it might be. Can I get out of all that stuff?”

The crowd laughed, and Rosenkranz tried to explain why judges were not off the hook.

“When it comes to judges,” he said, “we tolerate quite a bit more by way of chill of a judge’s vote precisely because judges are supposed to act judicial and purge their vote of all extraneous effects.”

“That’s too bad, because I would have been much more attracted to your position,” Scalia said, drawing another round of chuckles.

Scalia ended the oral argument season at the Supreme Court displaying his trademark snarky sense of humor, and he remains undefeated in DC Dicta’s Funniest Justice contest. Scalia drew laughter during oral arguments 48 times this term, easily beating out the very funny Justice Stephen Breyer, who earned 32 laughs total. Chief Justice John G. Roberts rounded out the top three with a total of 22 laughs.

Here is the final tally for OT10:

Justice Antonin Scalia: 48

Justice Stephen Breyer: 32

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: 22

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 8

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 4

Justice Samuel Alito: 3

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 3

Justice Elena Kagan: 2

Justice Clarence Thomas: 0 (Yesterday marked the fifth consecutive full term in which Thomas remained silent during oral arguments.)

During oral arguments Tuesday in the global warming case American Elec. Power Co. v. Connecticut, Justice Stephen Breyer played unwitting set-up man.

“Well, why is it less intrusive to try to get into the details of how an electricity company will in fact run its operation, than to say all you have to do is make a change in the dollar sign that you charge for your product?” asked Breyer.

After New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood gave her answer, Justice Antonin Scalia piped in with an observation.

“I wish Justice Breyer had made this argument in the EPA case,” Scalia quipped, drawing laughter from an audience that must have been familiar with the ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, in which Breyer and Scalia found themselves on opposite sides.

With only one week left before the Funniest Justice race wraps up for the term, Scalia padded his lead with three laugh-earning comments this week. Justice Samuel Alito also reminded court goers that he too can be funny, picking up one additional laugh. Here are the standings after 13 weeks of arguments:

Justice Antonin Scalia: 44

Justice Stephen Breyer: 30

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: 21

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 8

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 4

Justice Samuel Alito: 3

Justice Elena Kagan: 2

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 1

Justice Clarence Thomas: 0 (His last oral argument comment was on Feb. 22 2006.)

“I think you’re taking the position that simply because we granted cert, we’ve accepted there’s a plain error,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor during oral arguments Tuesday in the case Fowler v. U.S.  ”Is that your position? Because you haven’t really defended against a finding of plain error.”

“Well, the trial lawyer did a poor job in articulating the reasons for the judgment of acquittal,” said Stephen M. Crawford, the lawyer representing the defendant.

“I take it you were not the trial lawyer?” asked Justice Stephen Breyer.

“Well, unfortunately, Judge, I was,” Crawford replied, causing the crowd and the justices to chuckle.

Later, when Crawford was concluding his argument, Breyer addressed him again.

“Anyway, you’ve made a fine argument here, even if you didn’t make it (at trial),” Breyer said, spurring more laughter.

“Thank you, sir,” Crawford said. “I’ll do better next time.”

This week, Breyer was the funniest justice on the bench with seven laughs, just beating out Justice Antonin Scalia, who got six laughs. Here are the standings for the term after 12 weeks of oral arguments.

Justice Antonin Scalia: 41

Justice Stephen Breyer: 30

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: 21

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 8

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 4

Justice Samuel Alito: 2

Justice Elena Kagan: 2

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 1

Justice Clarence Thomas: 0 (No oral argument comment since Feb. 22 2006.)

During oral arguments yesterday in the case J.D.B v. North Carolina, Justice Stephen Breyer was searching for case law that would give guidance on whether age should be a factor in determining whether someone should be read the Miranda warning.

The support “comes from three cases: The first is Berkemer [v. McCarty], the second Stansbury [v. California], and the … third case, of course, is my dissent in Alvarez,” Breyer said, drawing laughs from the audience (surely not just because he actually meant to say Yarborough v. Alvarado.)

About 20 minutes later – when a different attorney was arguing – Breyer came back to the point.

“You know the sentence I’m referring to in my dissent, presumably?” Breyer asked.

“Some people don’t read the dissents – he may not have read it,” Justice Antonin Scalia interjected, drawing laughter.

“I live always in hope,” Breyer said.

The Breyer-Scalia comedy team dominated again this week at the Supreme Court. The duo collectively scored seven of the 10 laughs recorded on the transcripts this week. Here’s the full tally after 11 weeks of oral arguments so far this term:

Justice Antonin Scalia: 35

Justice Stephen Breyer: 23

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: 20

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 7

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 4

Justice Samuel Alito: 2

Justice Elena Kagan: 2

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 1

Justice Clarence Thomas: 0 (The silence since Feb. 22, 2006 continues…)

Despite the disturbing facts underlying the case Camreta v. Greene, oral arguments at the Supreme Court Tuesday was a barrel of laughs, care of Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia.

(The laughs started even before oral arguments began, with Roberts’ “corny” announcement of the opinion in FCC v. AT&T Inc., as Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick points out.)

When attorney Carolyn A. Kubitschek began her argument asserting that there was “no case or controversy” between the parties, Roberts jumped right in.

“Then why are you here?” asked Roberts, drawing laughter from the crowd. “Why didn’t you just go away?” More laughs.

A little later, Scalia was trying to determine just when questioning a child at school without a parent present may run afoul of the Fourth Amendment.

“You said earlier that your office had advised the county not to seize children,” Scalia said to Oregon Attorney General John R. Kroger. “Are you advising them that they don’t have the right to talk to children? [What if] they are walking along the hall in the school, right? [And they] just come up alongside: “By the way, I wanted to ask you whether your mother–” More laughter.

At one point when Justice Sonia Sotomayor was asking Kubitschek a question, Scalia leaned forward, as if advising a friend, and told Kubitschek: “She’s helping you, I think.” Laughter.

But when Scalia himself was grilling Kubitschek a little later, Roberts pointed out: “He was not trying to help you.” More laughs.

When arguments were over, Roberts and Scalia each had five more laughs in our ongoing Funniest Justice tally.

Here are the full standings after 10 weeks:

Justice Antonin Scalia: 31

Justice Stephen Breyer: 20

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: 18

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 7

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 4

Justice Samuel Alito: 2

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 1

Justice Elena Kagan: 1

Justice Clarence Thomas: 0 (The silence since Feb. 22, 2006 continues…)