Justice Breyer: Brilliant at Con Law; Rock Star Hagiography, Not So Much
Justice Stephen Breyer recently appeared on NPR's popular trivia show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me. Alas, his performance on the trivia portion of the show -- which focused on biographical details about rock stars -- was less than illustrious. This led one of the hosts to scold Justice Breyer as follows: "Back to the appeals court for you!"
But the parts of the show in which SGB was interviewed were interesting and sometimes amusing. For example, we didn't know this:
Answering panelist Paula Poundstone, Breyer revealed his robe never gathers lint. “It’s a synthetic,” he explained, purchased 25 years ago when he was a federal appeals judge in Boston.
Some good riffing from the hosts around this revelation. Mo Rocca asked Justice Breyer, "Why not have Justice Alito just pick the lint off for you?" And also: "Do you ever wear the robe to the supermarket, just to wow people?"
Finally, this was a good quip (although one we think we've heard before):
Being the funniest Supreme Court justice, [Breyer] said, "is like being one of the shortest tall people."
We must quibble, however, with the premise of the question. Justice Breyer drew the most laughs of the nine justices over a fairly short period of time, as noted on the show. But over a longer period of time, which we view as a more reliable indicator, Justice Breyer was only the second-funniest justice on the Court -- lagging behind Nino, by far.
Not My Job: Justice Stephen Breyer [NPR / Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me]
Justice Breyer Gets the Rock-Star Treatment [Washington Wire via WSJ Law Blog]
Justice Breyer Goes 0-3 on NPR News Quiz [Associated Press]
So, Guy Walks Up to the Bar, and Scalia Says... [New York Times]
Comments
i like how David managed to use the word "hagiography" in this bit. That SAT pre-course you took in high school in still paying off, huh.
Posted by: anonymous | March 26, 2007 12:40 PM
I happened to catch Breyer on NPR while in the car on Sat. He was pretty funny in a deadpan SCOTUS-Justice kinda way. Nevertheless, his guesses on the questions were atrocious. Maybe I shouldn't be shocked that he didn't know who Iggy Pop/Stooges were. On the other hand, thinking that Iggy spent a year speaking only in rhyme is like thinking that David Bowie's paranoia was caused by drinking too much milk. During his heyday Mr. Pop was lucky if he could speak at all!
Posted by: Anonymous | March 26, 2007 12:50 PM
12:40 pm: Well, if the SAT course didn't stick, Lat would have gone to Loyola.
Posted by: Sick of Loyola 2L | March 26, 2007 01:55 PM
Not to be unduly, you know, unfunny about it, but didn't Justice Breyer mangle his punchline? Shouldn't it be the other way around: being the funniest Supreme Court judge like being the tallest short person? Isn't the comic structure of the punchline based on being the most X of a class that is by definition not-X with X being a desirable trait? Short people want to be tall, so they exaggerate their relative "tallness" even though no matter how tall they are, they're still short -- and it's that hopeless effort that makes them seem comical. The other way around -- being the shortest tall person as Justice Breyer had it -- isn't funny, which explains I think the audience's reaction to it on the radio show; the audience recognized that he was trying to funny, and gave him credit, even though the line was mangled and not really that funny.
Posted by: anonymous | March 26, 2007 04:54 PM
I believe the introduction to the issue of which Supreme Court justice is funniest included an acknowledgment that Breyer is second to Scalia over time but that in some years he was funnier.
Posted by: Jeremy Pierce | March 26, 2007 06:35 PM
Nino tries harder. He's a clown.
Posted by: Jason | March 27, 2007 09:16 AM