A warning to lawyers who are drafting U.S. Supreme Court briefs this fall: Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. would like you to take a red pencil and lop off 15 pages of verbiage.

Roberts did not say this in so many words, but in a question-and-answer session in Nebraska September 19, the chief justice made it abundantly clear that as he enters his tenth year on the court, he is fed up with lengthy briefs. (His comments begin at the 20-minute mark.)