Six Justices to Attend SOTU
The Washington Post reports:
Six of the nine Supreme Court justices will attend President Obama's State of the Union address, the court confirmed Tuesday.
It didn't release names, but that likely means Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will continue his streak of attending the address, despite his misgivings that the speech and the partisan cheering and jeering that accompanies it had turned into a "political pep rally" that makes members of the court uncomfortable.
The likely attendees are Roberts and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. The no-shows would be Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. Scalia and Thomas rarely attend the speech, and Alito is on a speaking engagement in Hawaii.
Alito was at the center of last's year controversy at the State of the Union, where Obama made the rare decision to directly criticize the court for its decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed a larger role for corporations and unions in campaign spending. Democratic lawmakers jumped to their feet to cheer, while the court sat mostly stoically. Cameras caught Alito muttering "not true" to Obama's characterization of the case.
Roberts later criticized the timing of Obama's remarks, and said the event led members of the court to reconsider their attendance. "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," Roberts said. "And it does cause you to think whether or not it makes sense for us to be there."
