No Laughing Matter: Pop Culture and Humor in Judicial Opinions

I recently participated in a panel discussion, organized by Scribes, titled “No Laughing Matter: Pop Culture and Humor in Judicial Opinions.” You can find a recording of the event here. Present company excluded it was a distinguished panel:

• Hon. James C. Ho, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Hon. John B. Owens, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Jason P Steed, Kilpatrick Townsend
• Chad Baruch, Johnston Tobey Baruch
• And me

The discussion was moderated by Scribes president-elect, John Browning.

Despite the fact that my cats engaged in several spirited fights during the panel and my two year-old popped in twice, I had a fabulous time discussing such an important, and controversial, topic.  While I encourage you to watch the entire recording, I thought that I would touch on a few salient points from our discussion.

First, there was agreement on the fact that pop culture references, humor, and the use of narrative or storytelling are separate and distinct tools used by  judges in opinion-writing, and, as such, separate “rules” should govern their use (or in some cases discourage their use).

Second, several us of noted that judges need to be mindful of how pop culture and humor references might “age.” While we all might be streaming X,Y,Z show at the present, will readers 10, 20, or 30 years later catch the reference or humor?

Third, there was also near consensus that pop culture and humor should be used sparingly and with an attention to the gravity of the issues in the case. There was also general consensus that, as one panelist put it, the use of humor or pop culture should be a means to an end and not the ultimate end.

Finally, interestingly, most of the panelists agreed that use of humor or pop culture by an attorney should be done even more sparingly.

Thank you Scribes for organizing such an outstanding discussion!