It takes a confident man to crack a joke at the Supreme Court.

And former Solicitor General Theodore Olson showed Tuesday that he is just that man.

Usually, it's safest to leave the humor to the justices. After all, they're the ones in the black robes. Some entertaining studies have been done on humor during oral argument, generally involving counting the word "laughter" in the argument transcript. The first of these laughter studies was apparently done by Jay Wexler, published in the Green Bag, and it's still worth a look.

But when the opportunity presented itself Tuesday, during arguments in the case Citizen United v. Federal Election Commission, Olson let fly. He was being pressed on whether a company like, say, General Electric or General Motors might be permitted to produce a campaign film just like Citizens United, the conservative group Olson represents.

Breyer: Now, suppose it's General Motors. Can they?
Olson:  Well, General Motors may be smaller than the client we're representing.

In these recessionary times, it's funny because it's true!

There is another class of oral-argument humor, centered around the infallibility of the justices themselves.  An example occured Tuesday, when Justice John Paul Stevens asked about a prior case:

Stevens: Do you think the chief justice's opinion in that case correctly stated the law?
Olson:    Of course.
(pause for laughter.)
Olson:    By definition.
Scalia:   Good answer