On November 5, 2025, the marble steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. saw an unusual mix of high-powered officials and celebrity flair as comedian John Mulaney took his place among the audience for a pivotal hearing on presidential tariff powers. The hearing, which stretched nearly three hours, centered on President Donald Trump’s controversial use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs on a global scale—a move that has stirred both legal and political debate across the country.
Mulaney, best known for his sharp stand-up routines and quick wit, seemed out of place among the likes of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ed Markey. Yet, there he was, seated in the public gallery’s so-called “cheap seats,” following the legal arguments with keen interest. Later that day, Mulaney captured the moment with a post on X, joking, “Cheap seats but a great show,” and sharing a hand-drawn map of the courtroom, humorously marking his spot behind the parade of dignitaries and policymakers.
But Mulaney’s presence was more than just a celebrity cameo. According to Fox News and The Hill, he’s currently collaborating with Neal Katyal, the attorney who stood before the justices to argue against the tariffs on behalf of small businesses. Their joint project? A television series described as “a kind of ‘West Wing’ for the Supreme Court,” which aims to bring the drama and complexity of the nation’s highest court to a broader audience. Katyal, speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this year, explained, “For me, as I see the Supreme Court getting more and more out of step with American society, I thought to myself, I have to also be in a different forum, so I’m actually writing a television show about the Supreme Court. I’m writing with John Mulaney, and it’ll be out in a couple of years. And part of the idea is to try and use the arts to spur conversation about what justice is.”
The case at hand is no small matter. At issue is whether the president can use the IEEPA—a law traditionally reserved for national emergencies—to impose a 10% global tariff, as Trump did in April 2025, along with higher so-called reciprocal tariffs on nearly 50 countries. Trump, never one to shy away from dramatic language, declared on Truth Social that trade deficits had pushed the nation to “the precipice of an economic and national security crisis,” justifying his broad use of executive powers under IEEPA.
Yet, as Business Insider and Newsmax report, the legal challenge contends that in the fifty years since its passage, no president has ever used IEEPA to levy tariffs. The plaintiffs—primarily small businesses—argue that allowing the president to do so would represent a drastic and dangerous expansion of executive authority, effectively tearing up the delicate balance of powers carefully constructed by the Constitution. Katyal, for his part, minced no words in his critique, stating that Trump had “torn up the entire tariff architecture.”
Despite the far-reaching economic implications of the case, the justices spent much of their time probing the legal technicalities of the IEEPA statute itself. Their questioning focused on whether the law’s language truly grants the president the power to impose tariffs—traditionally the domain of Congress—and what, if any, guardrails exist to prevent future overreach. The debate, at times, seemed less about numbers and more about the foundational question of how much power should rest in the hands of a single executive.
For Mulaney, the day was as much about witnessing history as it was about research for his upcoming show. According to constitutional law scholar Akhil Reed Amar, a mutual friend of both Mulaney and Katyal, the comedian’s interest in the law runs deeper than most might expect. “My dear friend John is far more than a world-class theatrical talent; he is a serious public intellectual with a deep interest in law and American civics,” Amar told Business Insider. “So it is unsurprising that he would want to attend one of the biggest Supreme Court oral arguments of our time—especially because his close friend Neal Katyal was center stage today, so to speak.”
Katyal himself has praised Mulaney’s curiosity about constitutional law, revealing that their frequent exchanges about Supreme Court cases inspired him to launch his podcast “Courtside,” which aims to make complex legal issues more accessible to everyday Americans. “I didn’t know until last year he is also a Constitutional Law nerd,” Katyal wrote in a 2023 Substack post. “I mean, seriously, he texts me all sorts of questions about random Supreme Court cases. All the time. And they are damn good questions.”
While Mulaney has not publicly confirmed whether his Supreme Court visit was directly tied to the upcoming television series, the timing and his close collaboration with Katyal suggest that art is once again poised to intersect with the law in unexpected ways. As Katyal put it at Aspen, “The law is not particularly good at creating social change, and art can help reach people in different ways.”
Outside the courtroom, Mulaney’s personal life has also made headlines. He married actress Olivia Munn in July 2024, and the couple now share two children—a fact that, while unrelated to the legal drama unfolding in Washington, adds another layer to the comedian’s evolving public persona.
The Supreme Court’s eventual decision on the scope of presidential tariff powers under IEEPA will undoubtedly have far-reaching implications for American trade policy and the balance of powers in the federal government. For now, however, the day’s proceedings offered a rare glimpse of the intersection between politics, law, and pop culture—a reminder that the stories that shape the nation are often written not just in statutes and decisions, but in the conversations and collaborations that happen beyond the courtroom’s walls.
As the legal world awaits the justices’ verdict, one thing is clear: the drama of the Supreme Court is not lost on those who tell America’s stories, whether through the written word, the spoken joke, or, soon enough, the televised script.