Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are judged not only for their opinions and the quality of their questions during oral argument, but also for their ability to give a good speech and to pepper that speech with some humor.

When Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. stepped to the microphone to deliver the after-dinner speech on Wednesday, the opening night of the 3rd Circuit’s judicial conference, he was facing an audience of judges, lawyers and spouses that he had addressed several times before.