Everyone remembers this awkward moment from January’s State of the Union address:
Justice Alito made headlines at the time for his “not true” comment, but now Chief Justice Roberts is speaking out on the incident. When asked about it while visiting the University of Alabama School of Law yesterday, Roberts responded, “To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I’m not sure why we are there”:
“Anybody can criticize the Supreme Court. . . . I have no problem with that,” he said. He objected to criticism in such a public setting, where the justices had no choice but to sit silently.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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“The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court — according to the requirements of protocol — has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling,” he said.
“It does cause me to think . . . why are we there?”
At least two other justices agreed: Both Scalia and Thomas cited similar reasons for not attending the SOTU this year — and I’m guessing that, next year, we may see more of their colleagues following suit.
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