Recall that when President Obama gave his 2010 State of the Union Address he lashed out at a Supreme Court ruling, with six of the Justices present. Justice Alito was caught on camera mumbling "not true." Comes now Chief Justice Roberts, answering a student's question, saying that the SOTU is the wrong setting for a President to criticize the Court, an otherwise legitimate prerogative. Saith the Chief Justice (1:27):
Here is President Obama's shot at the Court & Associate Justice Alito's reply from the OBAMA 2010 SOTU (0:16):
Bottom Line. Did either sitting Justice overstep propriety? Did the President? Did members of Congress? Clearly the President & his supporters in Congress did. They assailed a captive audience of Justices who had voted against the President's preferred legal position in a major case. As Chief Justice Roberts noted, members of either branch are well within their rights to criticize the Court, as can any private citizen as well. But the setting matters. Justice Alito, ideally, should have kept an impassive visage, but his silent mumbling was a human reaction to a direct assault, and thus a venial sin of far less import than that of the President and his Congressional supporters in his sally & their student-body cheers. As for the Chief, his response was perfectly apt, and given in a perfect setting--a Teaching Moment for students at a university.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, Supreme Court, Conservative Politics
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