Hmmm let me say - MOST STUPID MOVE EVER in a State of a Union
Do people vet these speeches. It is mind blowing that Obama the former Law Prof and intelligent people in the White House thought this was good move. You can bet even the "liberal" Judges did not take kindly to it.
Instapudit has some links to thoughts on this.
Best summation so far at the link above:
In the history of the State of the Union has any President ever called out the Supreme Court by name, and egged on the Congress to jeer a Supreme Court decision, while the Justices were seated politely before him surrounded by hundreds [of] Congressmen? To call upon the Congress to countermand (somehow) by statute a constitutional decision, indeed a decision applying the First Amendment? What can this possibly accomplish besides alienating Justice Kennedy who wrote the opinion being attacked. Contrary to what we heard during the last administration, the Court may certainly be the object of presidential criticism without posing any threat to its independence. But this was a truly shocking lack of decorum and disrespect towards the Supreme Court for which an apology is in order. A new tone indeed.
followed by
“When you hear the president of the United States demagoguing the First Amendment, you sit there and you take it, son.”
No, actually, you don’t, and Alito didn’t. And that will step on Obama’s press tonight and tomorrow, turning his demagoguery into a negative for him. That’s why Presidents usually act Presidential. Not so much because it’s dignified. But because it’s smart. That’s something that Obama, with his limited experience on the national stage, hasn’t figured out yet.
Again mind blowing.
See Awkward Moment At the State of the Union Address at The Volokh Conspiracy.
From a comment
"To their credit, Breyer, Ginsburg and Sotomayor seemed mortified. Just imagine if Bush had used a State of the Union address to insert an applause line about how the Court’s Gitmo rulings were going to leave America defenseless from terrorist attacks . . . he’d be accused of demagogy, with good reason.
I wish Alito had not succumbed to the human temptation. More than that, I wish the president had not caused Congress to rise up around the Justices like that and cheer his direct criticism of one of their decisions. Most of all, I hope the Justices just stop going to these things.
What a disgraceful move by the president.
p.s. Isn’t this decision now a “precedent” we’re required to respect? Let’s tune in to what the New York Times has to say .
and another
Obama lied about the Court’s decision and berated the justices in a setting where they had to sit and have others cheer against them (and Obama knew darn well the kind of applause that line would get from the Dems). He did this with full knowedge that, unlike politicians, the justices would not call a press conference to correct the public on his lies. Cowardly and disgusting.
I am now totally finished with this President. January 20, 2013 can’t come soon enough.
Update- Law Prof Ann Althouse likes that the New Jersey Alito was on display tonight
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