Things were already going to be a little crazy outside the Supreme Court for today’s arguments in the Title VII cases. So, the discovery of two suspicious packages on the plaza this morning is most unwelcome. The packages are investigated by the authorities, but they disrupt foot and vehicular traffic around the court just as argument time approaches.

The building remains open, and reporters are escorted up to the courtroom well before 9:30 a.m., which gives us the chance to scope out the scene.

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Pamela Karlan, the Stanford University law professor representing the gay employees in the Bostock and Zarda cases, tosses out pop-culture references left and right.

She is asked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg how she would answer the argument that sexual-orientation protection could not have been on the mind of Congress in 1964, when Title VII was passed.

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Barely six minutes into her argument today, Karlan is met with a lull in questioning, which prompts her to say, “Well, if no one has any further questions, I’ll reserve the remainder of my time for rebuttal.”

She would have had about 23 or 24 minutes left, which prompts laughter but also a look of mild alarm on the chief justice’s face.