By: Barbara Grzincic

Why can’t you be more like your brother?

It’s bad enough when parents play that sibling-rivalry card, but Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Wall actually tried it during oral argument today in the Supreme Court.

The case was Barber v. Thomas, which deals with calculating good-behavior credits for federal inmates, Kimberly Atkins reports for our sister blog, DC Dicta:

“It’s a very complicated system to understand,” [Justice John Paul] Stevens said to Wall at one point during the argument.

“Well, with all due respect Justice Stevens, Justice Breyer got it in the first five minutes,” Wall replied, sending howls of laughter throughout the courtroom.

DC Dicta also has capsule summaries of the three cases decided today by the court, Berghuis v. Smith (jury selection); Jones v. Harris Associates LP (shareholder suits by mutual fund investors) and Graham County Soil and Water Conservation Dist. v. United States ex rel. Wilson (False Claims Act).