Litigation

Six Justices to Attend State of the Union Speech

By Peter Hardin

Six of the Supreme Court’s nine justices will attend tonight’s State of the Union speech by President Obama, the court announced, although it did not name them.

The Blog of Legal Times said Justice Samuel Alito Jr. was in Hawaii addressing the Hawaii Bar Association. Last year, he  shook his head and mouthed the words “not true” over the way Obama characterized — and criticized — the court’s Citizens United campaign finance decision.

Based on infrequent attendance by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, BLT blog speculated that the following judges would attend: Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., along with Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

After last year’s speech, Justice Roberts said about Supreme Court members attending the speech, “To the extent it has degenerated into a political pep rally, I?m not sure why we?re there.? (Learn more from Gavel Grab.)

According to a Washington Post blog, Justice Breyer was the sole high court jurist to attend several State of the Union speeches in the past decade, and in 2000, no justice attended.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 25, 2011 (boomark / email).