Thursday, January 28, 2010

Obama Slams Supreme Court in State of the Union Speech

It sure is strange to see Obama disrespect the Supreme Court so openly in such an important speech. It is good that Alito silently stood up for the Court as well:

Obama had taken the unusual step of scolding the high court in his State of the Union address Wednesday. "With all due deference to the separation of powers," he began, the court last week "reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections."

Alito made a dismissive face, shook his head repeatedly and appeared to mouth the words "not true" or possibly "simply not true."

I'm wondering if they will show up at all to the next State of the Union speech because technically they shouldn't be there. The Constitution doesn't mention them being there at all:

Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;

It says he needs to give this State of the Union speech to Congress and not to the Supreme Court. They actually shouldn't be there at all since you would figure that the drafters would have put "the entirety of the 3 branches" or something like that.

After this ham-handed disrespect the Supreme Court really should just stay home. The idea of a President slamming the Supreme Court, to their face, in a speech that he is constitutionally required to give each year is beyond the pale.

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