As the Supreme Court’s nine justices grappled over whether President Donald Trump assumed too much power by imposing sweeping tariffs on nearly every country in the world, a comedian listened closely from the back of the room.
John Mulaney — stand-up comedian, talk show host, and “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” star — was in attendance.
Mulaney attended Wednesday’s oral arguments in the tariff case, in part, because his friend Neal Katyal was at the podium, according to Akhil Reed Amar, a widely celebrated Constitutional law scholar and mutual friend of both men.
“My dear friend John is far more than a world-class theatrical talent; he is a serious public intellectual with a deep interest in law and American civics,” Amar, a Yale Law School professor, told Business Insider. “So it is unsurprising that he would want to attend one of the biggest Supreme Court oral arguments of our time — especially because his close friend Neal Katyal was center stage today, so to speak.”
Katyal, a partner at Milbank LLP and former Acting US Solicitor General, argued on behalf of two groups of companies that challenged the legality of the tariffs Trump imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
Later Wednesday, Mulaney posted an illustration on X by C-Span communications director Howard Mortman that highlighted his attendance.
“Cheap seats but a great show,” Mulaney wrote.
Katyal said at an event in June that he was working with Mulaney on a television show.
“I’m actually writing a television show about the Supreme Court, it’s kind of ‘West Wing for the Supreme Court,” Katyal said at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “I’m writing it with John Mulaney, and it’ll be out in a couple of years. Part of the idea is to try and use the arts to spur a conversation about what justice is.”
It’s unclear if Mulaney and Katyal discussed the show at a secondary location after Wednesday’s oral arguments, which concluded early in the afternoon. Neither Katyal nor representatives for Mulaney responded to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
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John Mulaney, Constitutional law nerd
Mulaney’s parents are both attorneys. His mother, Ellen Mulaney, worked as a professor at Northwestern University’s law school. His father, Charles Mulaney, is a corporate lawyer at the elite Big Law firm Skadden Arps. Both graduated from Yale Law School.
Wednesday was at least the second time that John Mulaney and a Supreme Court justice were in the same room. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was in the front row of a 2024 Yale Law School reunion, where Mulaney moderated an event titled “Conversation on Textualist Approaches of Constitutional Interpretation” with Amar and Katyal.
Amar told Business Insider that he and Mulaney first met after Mulaney’s mother encouraged the comedian to listen to Amar’s podcast, “America’s Constitution.”
Mulaney has since listened to all 250 episodes, Amar told Business Insider. For one of Mulaney’s mother’s birthdays, he flew Amar to Chicago for a discussion, he said.
“John and I nerded out about law for his mom’s birthday — and he invited all his mom’s friends — to just hear him talk to me about Constitutional law in honor of his mom, who finds this all very interesting. “
The two have supported each other in other ways. Earlier this year, Mulaney lent his voice to the audiobook version of Amar’s book, “Born Equal.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s arguments, Mulaney emailed Amar asking for a copy of an amicus brief written by his brother, Vikram Amar, a professor at the University of California, Davis law school and former Supreme Court clerk. The topic of his brief — about how power rarely transfers back from the president to Congress — was discussed during the arguments.
“John is a serious guy,” Akhil Reed Amar said. “He wants to read the briefs.”
Katyal and Mulaney have each been on each other’s shows. In May, the lawyer appeared on “Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney,” where he participated in a discussion about squatting.
“Landlords are interesting because they kind of are a sorry bunch,” Katyal said on the Netflix show. “Because they’re the only people outside of England that call themselves ‘lords.'”
In 2023, Katyal hosted Mulaney on his legal podcast, “Courtside,” where they discussed the challenges faced by prosecutors who investigate presidents. Katyal described him as a “Constitutional Law nerd” and cited him as an inspiration for launching the podcast.
“I mean, seriously, he texts me all sorts of questions about random Supreme Court cases,” Katyal wrote of Mulaney. “All the time. And they are damn good questions.”
Though Mulaney didn’t take the mic, Wednesday’s oral arguments had several zingers. According to the Supreme Court’s official transcript, there were 11 instances of laughter.
The nerdiest one, perhaps, came from Justice Samuel Alito, who ribbed Katyal about his position on the nondelegation doctrine.
“I found it interesting to hear you make the nondelegation argument, Mr. Katyal,” Alito said to chuckles in the room. “I wonder if you ever thought that your legacy as a constitutional advocate would be the man who revived the nondelegation argument.”
(The nondelegation doctrine holds that executive branch agencies can’t exercise power unless Congress explicitly grants it to them. Katyal, while serving in the Obama administration, frequently argued that agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were able to take actions that weren’t necessarily spelled out by Congress.)
Oregon Solicitor General Benjamin Gutman, arguing on behalf of twelve states opposing the tariffs, also scored points with the audience.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh said Gutman’s argument had “a doughnut hole” in its reasoning because he said a president could use IEEPA to impose an embargo on a country, but not a tax.
Gutman said taxes and tariffs, while appearing to be a less powerful measure than embargoes, were categorically different because they raised revenue.
“It’s not a doughnut hole — it’s a different kind of pastry,” he said to laughter.
“That’s a good one,” Kavanaugh said.
