After a painful one day reprieve in the transcripts, the Supreme Court has graced us with laughter in McCutcheon v. FEC. Thanks to a bad joke from Justice Breyer, with a nice followup by Erin Murphy in heir maiden voyage at the lectern at One First Street.

JUSTICE BREYER: $5,000. So we all have is my $5,000 going to the PAC and there happened to be 400 PACs. So 5,000 times — 4,000. Five times 40, five times 400, how much is that? I’m not too good at math.

(Laughter.)

MS. MURPHY: Without doing the math, I will tell you that earmarking and proliferation restrictions -­

H/T the ever-diligent Michelle Olsen, who actually contacted the reporting company to inquire about the lack of laughter:

Welcome Back [Laughter]! http://t.co/4WrUO0ddTA (in today's #SCOTUS transcript) HT: @SCOTUSreporter cc: @RickHasen @JoshMBlackman @DCDicta

— Michelle Olsen (@AppellateDaily) October 8, 2013

Update: And apparently BCRA is spelled “Bicker”

MS. MURPHY: Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court: Bicker’s aggregate contribution limits are an impermissible attempt to equalize the relative ability of individuals to participate in the political process.

H/T Election Law List-Serve