Like bumps on a log
A while ago I linked to a video of Obama slagging off the Supreme Court at the State of the Union address in front of several of the Court’s judges. Chief Justice Roberts, speaking at the University of Alabama, has just commented on it:
Responding to a University of Alabama law student’s question, Roberts said anyone was free to criticize the court, and some have an obligation to do so because of their positions.
“So I have no problems with that,” he said. “On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum.
“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 the requirements of protocol — has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling.” …
Roberts told the students he wonders whether justices should attend the speeches.
“I’m not sure why we’re there,” said Roberts, a Republican nominee who joined the court in 2005.
Justice Antonin Scalia once said he no longer goes to the annual speech because the justices “sit there like bumps on a log” in an otherwise highly partisan atmosphere. Six of the nine justices attended Obama’s address.
The full article is here.
7:52pm 
