Jan 28, 2010 by Bruce
An unseemly Presidential moment
From the transcript of the State of the Union speech last night:
“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.”
As the members of the Supreme Court sat with their usual stony faces, the Democrats surrounding them stood to their feet in loud applause and cheering (or was it jeering?). Chuck Schumer was so excited I thought he was going to launch a spit-wad at the Chief Justice’s head. Justice Alito appeared to shake his head ever-so-slightly and mouth something like “not true” or “you’re wrong.” Check out the video of the whole incident here.
The first problem with the President’s statement is that it is not true, as I tried to suggest earlier. However, the larger issue I have with the President’s statement and the Dems’ reaction was how unseemly it was, given the status of the judiciary as a co-equal branch of government and the decorum that has always been observed at these state events with regard to the Court. There are innumerable ways to express disagreement with a court decision and the desire to address it through legislation without the dressing-down Obama chose to give. With the reaction of the Democrats ringing in his ears, I don’t blame Alito for his overt reaction. All in all, I thought the entire moment (and others in the speech I don’t need to go into here) degraded the office of President.
Ed Whelan gives his take on last night’s Supreme Court moment here.
True to form, Sen. Russ Feingold (D- WI) finds fault with Alito, not Obama.
