John Mulaney was spotted Wednesday at President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court hearing on his tariff war, which the comedian attended for an interesting reason.
The former Saturday Night Live writer was seen leaving the nation’s highest court, where justices are weighing the legality of Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on other nations.
While Mulaney is a “law nerd,” The Hollywood Reporter notes that the comedian is working on a TV show based on the Supreme Court, which he is writing with attorney Neal Katyal, who was there on Wednesday representing businesses challenging the tariffs.
Mulaney took to X on Wednesday to share a sketch of the courtroom, with Xs to mark players including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
The sketch pointed out his position in the back row, with the caption “cheap seats but a great show.”
The hearing is part of an appeal case; the lower courts ruled that Trump’s sweeping tariffs, implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), overstepped his authority. Mulaney’s attendance at the hearing came as a surprise to many, as the attendees were mostly comprised of politicians, economists, and administration officials.
Katyal had Mulaney on his podcast, Courtside in July, where he told his audience that Mulaney is a “constitutional law nerd.” He revealed that the comedian “texts [him] all sorts of questions about random Supreme Court cases. All the time.”
Katyal said Mulaney’s questions actually inspired his podcast. “It occurred to me that Constitutional Law should not be the province of a bunch of lawyers—it belongs to all of us.”
Mulaney also featured Katyal on his Netflix talk show Everybody’s Live this year.
The attorney shared some details of their TV collaboration at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this year.
He said the project came about as he watched “the Supreme Court getting more and more out of step with American society” and realized he could tackle it in a different forum.
“I’m actually writing a television show about the Supreme Court, it’s kind of a West Wing for the Supreme Court,” Katyal said. “I’m writing with John Mulaney and and it’ll be out in a couple of years. But part of the idea is to try and use the arts to spur a conversation about what justice is.”
Mulaney was seen in The Bear and Poker Face this year as well as returning to Saturday Night Live for the show’s 50th anniversary.
