“With all due respect for the separation of powers,” indeed.
I know that by doing this he only hurt his own cause, but I find it shocking that Obama was willing to pull a stunt like this: this is the Supreme Court of the United States, for crying out loud.
UPDATE:
Althouse—
One expects such rigid decorum from the Justices on these occasions that it’s really striking when a Justice is anything other than a statue of a Justice. I think that if they knew they were going to have to listen to that kind of in-your-face disrespect, they wouldn’t have done the President the honor of sitting there, providing the scenery. But they were there, and I’m not going to criticize Alito for moving his lips and letting us see a silent defense of the judicial branch of government.
And Joyner has another mini-roundup on the issue, quoting a Greenwald piece that presents the best critique of Alito’s actions (which you should go read, by the way). But he finally concludes:
While I generally agree with Greenwald on the matter of judicial temperament and value of preserving the (frankly, false) illusion that Supreme Court Justices are impartial caretakers of the Constitution rather than political actors, it seems that we can reasonably grant an exception in the case of cases on which the Court has already ruled. Alito has already told us what he thinks of the issues involved in this particular case in controversy by signing his name to Justice Kennedy’s longish opinion. Just as I would have no problem with the dissenting Justices reiterating the rationale behind their dissent, I’m fine with Alito objecting to a blatant mischaracterization of his ruling.
Certainly, time, place, and manner are important considerations. And the SOTU assembly isn’t a place where Justices usually speak their mind on these matters. But Alito’s mild and inaudible reaction to being publicly called out — and disingenuously at that — by the president is quite reasonable.
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Obama’s SOTU… A Photographic Review
Remember what Ricky Bobby said in Talledega Nights. If you preface anything you say with the words “With all due respect…” you can say anything you want without repercussion. Didn’t work so well for Obama Ricky Bobby.
Why has no one noted the obvious, that Alito probably had no idea the cameras would be pointed at him? Given the fact that the Supreme Court hasn’t been a talking point since 1913, I doubt he would have been prepared for a “Grin and bear it” camera zoom.
It’s the SOTU, not the freaking Oscars!
Joe Wilson broke decorum, Alito was just caught being insulted.
Maybe Justice Alito should have just yelled “Liar!”
What gets me is how angry the rest of SCOTUS looks. It’s not just Alito — they all have the same frozen, deadpan glare. Even the justices who were the dissenting minority in the Citizens United Case… I don’t think they appreciated Barry tarring them all with the same brush. It’s possible that a very large bridge may just have been burned.