The Funniest Justice, Week 5: Stupid jokes

By Kimberly Atkins Dolan Media Newswires BOSTON, MA--''Why don't you just call your motion a motion to correct an illegal sentence?'' asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. during Monday's oral arguments in the case Wall v. Kholi, which considers whether a motion for a sentence reduction constitutes a post-conviction review that would toll AEDPA's statute of limitations. ''Then we wouldn't have any dispute here, I gather.'' ''Under the State's theory, there would not be,'' answered Boston Federal Public Defender Judith H. Mizner, adding: ''I did not file this motion.'' ''You are not one of the stupid lawyers that we were worried about before,'' Roberts said, drawing a round of laughter from the courtroom. The chief justice tied with Justice Antonin Scalia this week as the chief laugh earner. Each made three funny comments this week, according to the Court's official transcripts. Justice Anthony Kennedy also padded his score, adding one laugh to his count. Here are the standings after five weeks of arguments: Justice Antonin Scalia: 15 Justice Stephen Breyer: 11 Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: 6 Justice Anthony Kennedy: 5 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 3 Justice Samuel Alito: 2 Justice Clarence Thomas: 0 (Nope - still no oral argument utterance since Feb. 22, 2006) Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 0 Justice Elena Kagan: 0 Published: Thu, Dec 9, 2010

––––––––––––––––––––
 Subscribe to the Legal News!
 https://test.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available