A CHIEF JUSTICE WITH SPINE vs. A PRESIDENT WITH MOUTH – AT 8:36 P.M. ET:  Chief Justice John Roberts has struck back against President Obama's entirely inappropriate denunciation of a Supreme Court decision during the State of the Union message.  From Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog:

It is not at all unusual in American history for the executive branch of the federal government (the White House, under the control of either party) to disagree with the judicial branch (Supreme Court).

What is considerably more unusual is for the chief executive of the executive branch (Barack Obama) to look down on the members of said Supreme Court in public at a joint session of Congress and to their faces denounce their independent actions.

And then to receive a resounding ovation from fellow Democrats standing to applaud and cheer Obama as the surrounded justices sat mute, motionless and unable to respond.

That, of course, is what Obama did in his first State of the Union address Jan. 27, objecting to a court decision allowing corporations to donate political funds like individuals as a matter of free speech...

...Speaking today at the University of Alabama law school in Tuscaloosa, Chief Justice Roberts responded:

"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."

Justices are not required to attend the annual joint sessions but have traditionally done so as a sign of mutual respect for the president and legislative branch. In January, six justices attended, including Roberts. But it sounds now like that judicial thinking might be changing.

Roberts added: "I'm not sure why we're there."

COMMENT:  Either am I.  Perhaps next year the conservative justices could decide to take their business elsewhere.  I assume the liberals will attend.  Anthony Kennedy, the swing justice, could stand outside the hall and spend the entire time of the speech debating whether to go inside.

March 9, 2010