Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh stood in the back row, on the far right, beaming. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, recovering from a fall, sat in front of him, grimacing. Off to her right, Justice Stephen G. Breyer appeared to chuckle at a joke he had just recalled.

It was the latest installment of an awkward and illuminating tradition at the Supreme Court: the group photographs prepared when a new justice joins the court. Last month, the justices took their places, in strict order of seniority, and tried to smile for the cameras.

About a dozen news photographers were there to document the occasion, supervised by a court official with a stopwatch. “It’s a tradition that all the photographers in town look forward to getting a crack at,” said Doug Mills, a photographer for The New York Times, “because it’s a historical picture no matter what.”