But the seminal study in this area, from 2005, was indeed lighthearted. It counted up how often comments from given justices were followed by the notation “(laughter)” in the official transcript, and it calculated that Justice Antonin Scalia was by that measure the funniest member of the court, followed by Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

Justice Clarence Thomas beat out Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the title of least funny justice, but only by a little and aided by the fact that he never asks questions.

The older study’s author, Jay D. Wexler, a law professor at Boston University, was frank about its methodological shortcomings.

The “(laughter)” notation, he wrote, does not “distinguish between the genuine laughter brought about by truly funny or clever humor and the anxious kind of laughter that arises when one feels nervous or uncomfortable or just plain scared for the nation’s future.”

Mr. Malphurs said his goal was to remedy these flaws, noting that the Wexler study “lacked the methodological rigor and insight normally attributable to social scientific studies.”