Alito Mouths 'NOT TRUE' At State Of The Union

[cal04]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/alito-not-true...

With the Supreme Court Justices sitting right in front of him, President Barack Obama unloaded in his State of the Union address on this past week's ruling qualifying corporations as having the rights of citizens and opening the "floodgates" to their political donations.

"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. "Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that's why I'm urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."

There was some strong applause from members of Congress -- with both sides of the chamber rising to their feet with applause. The Justices -- all there except Scalia and Thomas -- sat in silence (as is their custom), but at the beginning of the exchange, Justice Alito can be seen shaking his head and mouthing words that seem to resemble "not true."



Marc Ambinder, over at The Atlantic, suggests that "the White House is preparing for a Supreme Court vacancy (or two) this summer, so Obama's remarks here have particular salience."
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2010/01/obamas_stern_re...


Did Samuel Alito ‘mouth off’ to Obama during speech?
http://rawstory.com/2010/01/alito-mouth-off-obama /
Some viewers of President Obama's State of the Union address Wednesday night say they they could see Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito mouth the words "No, that's not true" during one contentious moment in the speech.

CNN host Wolf Blitzer said he saw Alito mouth the words during the president's criticism of a recent Supreme Court ruling that rolled back decades of restrictions on corporate and union campaign spending.

Alito's State of the Union moment

As Democrats applauded, cameras showed the justices sitting expressionless. Except for Alito.

"Not true, not true," he appeared to say, as he shook his head and furrowed his brow.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/01/alito-mouth...

[Arctic Dave]

1. So I'm not the only one who thought this was extremely weird.

My wife thought I was being overly sensitive to his actions.

[bullwinkle428]

2. Joe Wilson in a black robe.

[iamjoy]

8. No, There's a Difference

You can say it is wrong to mouth it because you disagree with the sentiment. You can even say it was inappropriate because he had to have figured there was a good chance a camera would be on him at that point.

But it is in no way as rude as interrupting the President by shouting at him. And the offense of contradicting the President is worse when it is made personal by a second person pronoun directed his way.

[BootinUp]

3. Alito was opening his mouth

to suck some corporate cock.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Scalito knows what he's done

I wouldn't be surprised if he knew this judgement was coming for YEARS.

Citizens United v. FEC was planned for just this outcome.

[mmonk]

12. This and two more cases.

The lead attorney of Citizens United is going for all campaign finance law to be nullified, even disclosure. The cases that will decide it are on the docket.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

5. DO YOU WONDER if just maybe he finally THOUGHT IT THU ??

meanwhile on MSNBC Chuckelhead just apologized for the stupid "For an hour I forgot he was black"

[JTFrog]

14. My jaw actually dropped when he said that last night.

I was like... WTF did he just say?!?

[leftstreet]

6. Well, Obama was technically wrong about 'a century of law...'

blah, blah, blah

The law that prevents direct contributions is still a law.

What the court allowed was corporations/unions to spend money from their treasuries - not their PACs - on advertising.

Maybe that's what Alito was referring to?

[gristy]

7. I missed the speech, but am very glad to read that this happened:

"There was some strong applause from members of Congress -- with both sides of the chamber rising to their feet with applause."

If there ever was an issue that should be non-partisan and bring the parties together in agreement, it is this one.

[Last Stand]

17. agreed. it's about people vs. corp's, not dems vs. rep's in the long run. nt/

[troubledamerican]

9. Let us thank Schumer & Feinstein for ALITO

[tiptoe]

10. a video close-up of Alito:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-hb-hQXi9s

[A-Schwarzenegger]

11. Looks like "Except it's not true."

[FrenchieCat]

13. After Bush v. Gore,

until I see a majority of supreme court members appointed by a Democratic President making decision 5-4 in the favor of the people for a change, I don't respect 5 members of this court, period.

[Skidmore]

15. I don't ever want to hear the phrase "activist judge" from an R

go unanswered by a Dem again.

[Glimmer of Hope]

16. I just saw a clip on the Today Show and think

his response was immature and inappropriate for a SC judge.

[bigtree]

18. alito

liar

[bdamomma]

19. the truth hurts doesn't it?

I'm glad Obama said that.