Even Judge Merrick Garland had time to crack U.S. Supreme Court jokes during a hearing, winking at his denied nomination to the nation’s highest court.

The comments came during a sitting of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at Georgetown Law, where Chief Judge Garland and Judges Sri Srinivasan and A. Raymond Randolph heard two cases. The special session was part of the appeals court’s revival of “circuit riding,” a throwback to the nation’s early years when justices were required to preside over cases in federal circuit courts, often crisscrossing the country by horse.