May 24, 2026
All rise for the comment chaos
When (if ever) it's appropriate to make jokes before the US Supreme Court
Courtroom manners? Commenters say the real joke is the court itself
TLDR: A lawyer repeated Trump’s crude insult about Haiti during a Supreme Court hearing, reviving questions about what counts as proper behavior in court. Commenters barely cared about etiquette, arguing the bigger scandal is that the court has lost credibility — while one person joked the outrage all sounded bot-generated.
A Supreme Court hearing about whether it’s ever okay to crack jokes or repeat rude language in front of the justices somehow turned into a much bigger popcorn moment online: people were far less shocked by the bad word than by the court itself. The spark was attorney Geoffrey Pipoly repeating Donald Trump’s infamous insult about Haiti during arguments in a case about Haitian immigrants’ deportation protections. One justice softened it to “s-hole country,” but Pipoly said the full quote, and that sent one reporter digging into the court’s official rulebook on swearing, titles, interruptions, and whether anyone should ever act casual in America’s fanciest courtroom.
But in the comments? Whew. The vibe was basically: why are we debating courtroom etiquette when many people think the institution has already become a punchline? Multiple commenters piled on with fury, calling the court “a joke,” “partisan,” and worse, accusing it of serving politics instead of justice. The hottest takes weren’t about legal procedure at all; they were about trust, legitimacy, and whether “appropriate” even means anything anymore.
Then came the plot twist: one commenter looked at the pile-on and asked if the thread had been invaded by bots because so many replies sounded nearly identical. That added a second layer of drama — not just rage at the court, but suspicion about the comment section itself. So yes, the article asked when jokes belong in the Supreme Court. The internet answered: apparently after the court became the joke.
Key Points
- •The article uses oral argument in *Mullin v. Doe* to examine Supreme Court courtroom etiquette.
- •Attorney Geoffrey Pipoly quoted Donald Trump’s past vulgar remark about Haiti while representing Haitian nationals challenging deportation-protection changes.
- •The Supreme Court’s *Guide for Counsel* says only the Chief Justice should be addressed as “Mr. Chief Justice,” while other justices should be addressed as “Justice [Last Name]” or “Your Honor.”
- •The guide instructs attorneys to wear conservative dark business attire and avoid using the title “Judge” for justices.
- •The guide also says attorneys must not interrupt justices and must stop speaking immediately when a justice interrupts them.