The last 10 days or so have been pretty big from a legal/political standpoint. We had what could be a huge decision from the Supreme Court, and also the State of the Union address from President Obama. To make matters even more interesting, certain occurrences during last night's speech could very well inflame the issue even more. Full disclosure: I did not watch the speech last night. For one thing, I was working. More importantly, I'm dreadfully tired of talk with no action. Besides, surely I can get an unbiased, non-partisan account of what happened from the myriad news sources on the television and the interwebs...
In any case, during the speech President Obama expressed his disappointment in the Citizens United case and lamented what he saw as the likely outcome of the decision. That a sitting president has a bone to pick with a Supreme Court decision is not really news. Some outlets suggest that the forum for said criticism was unconventional. However, the reaction from Justice Alito, sitting front and center for all the cameras to see, clearly indicated that he didn't take kindly to the criticism. At first he appears to be struggling with a vile taste in his mouth, after which it looks like he mouths the words "not true." What exactly he was referring to as "not true" is open for debate.
That a Supreme Court justice would react to anything said during a president's speech is highly unconventional and raises some interesting questions about the court's alleged apolitical-ness (a real word? probably not). Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com has an interesting article today discussing the situation and what it means for a court that already credibility issues in the eyes of the public.
Also, since Murphy has yet to treat the Citizens United case directly, here are two articles discussing the legitimacy of the decision. One of them is another article from Greenwald, concluding the decision was at least partially correct. The other is from Lawrence Lessig and is a response to Greenwald's column.
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ReplyDeleteSuch a skewed, leftist take on reality. Justice Alito is the one to be questioned in this? Are you kidding me? name the last time a sitting President, in front of a joint chamber of Congress, during ANY speech, has publicly admonished 5 members of the Supreme Court, and then waits quietly while members of his party stand, surrounding the members of The Court, and wildly appauld his attack? and Alito's mouthed, silent, and justified response is what is questioned. Stunning how biased you are.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, I don't see anything in the above post that would indicate support or approval for what the president did during the speech. Is it kosher for him to take advantage of his bully pulpit and bash a co-equal branch of government? Tough to say. What if he lashed out at Congress during the speech? Would that change your viewpoint on this matter?
ReplyDeleteWith respect to Justice Alito, your post illustrated the precise reason why his reaction was so out of the ordinary. You indicate that after the president blasted the Citizens United decision members of his party stood to applaud. The president is a politician. Members of Congress are politicians. They are all partisan, the exact opposite of everything the Supreme Court is designed to embody. For a member of the Court to react (positively or negatively)to anything said during a presidential address calls into question the ability of that member to remain above the partisan fray.