Tensions rise between Supreme Court, politicians

[EV_Ares]

By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY

The moment lasted about 20 seconds. But its political reverberations have endured for a year and exemplify today's knotty confluence of law, politics and public perception.

At last year's State of the Union speech Jan. 27, with six Supreme Court justices in attendance, President Obama denounced a recent campaign-finance ruling, saying it reversed a century of precedent and warning that it would "open the floodgates" for corporate spending on elections. Justice Samuel Alito shook his head and mouthed "not true."

That tense moment has been viewed on youtube.com more than 650,000 times in the past year. It was singularly controversial but not the only headline-grabbing interaction between members of the political branches and the Supreme Court in the past twelve months.

A series of events, most recently Justice Antonin Scalia's acceptance of an invitation to speak to Tea Party members, has made clear that against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Washington and the 24-hour media frenzy, interactions between justices and the two elected branches have become more politicized.

"It's a significant phenomenon," says University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman. "It wasn't happening 20 years ago."

Court scholars say the trend could lead to public doubts about the ability of judges to be impartial and above politics, particularly when highly charged disputes over health care, gay rights and immigration are moving through the judiciary.

Link to entire article: http://bit.ly/dUYtVg

[xchrom]

1. when they lie during their nomination process -- i would HOPE

it lead to public doubts about judges impartiality.

when justices take part in political outings -- like the ones thomas and scalia have -- i would HOPE the public would have doubts
about their impartiality.

that would be the appropriate conclusion.

[WhiteTara]

10. I hoped it would lead to impeachment

of the liar. But no.

[icnorth]

2. "...the trend could lead to public doubts

about the ability of judges to be impartial and above politics.":wow::wow::wow: .:sarcasm: off

[Tesha]

3. It was Bush v Gore that CONFIRMED my doubts that...

...the Court could be impartial and rise above politics.

Tesha

[Democat]

8. The Supreme Court appointed Bush and the media didn't care about that?

But Obama points out their hypocrisy and suddenly the media is upset?

[pnorman]

15. SCOTUS Justice Stevens:

"Time will one day heal the wound to that confidence that will be inflicted by today's decision. One thing, however, is certain. Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law."

[SoCalDem]

4. At least 3 of them deserve to be IMPEACHED

One SCOTUS justice been impeached before, although he was acquitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Chase
Samuel Chase (April 17, 1741 – June 19, 1811) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and earlier was a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland. Early in life, Chase was a "firebrand" states-righter and revolutionary.<2> His political views changed over his lifetime and in the last decades of his career he became well-known as a staunch Democratic Republican, and was impeached for allegedly letting his partisan leanings affect his court decisions. Chase was acquitted. This is why he was passed over in favor of James Madison for Jefferson's successor.

[Skidmore]

5. Buyer's remorse over those nonactivist judges, eh?

[Autumn]

6. I wish tensions would build up enough for

impeachment ideas to grow and become a reality. A few of those so called judges should be impeached.

[DFW]

7. "not true"

What Obama predicted is EXACTLY what happened.

The only thing that was not true was Alito's "not true."

[glinda]

9. So why as a Constitutional scholar has he allowed the dismantling of the Constitution?

When power of the President was enhanced under Bush, why has power under Obama fallen? These things do not match up and run in opposition to each other.
We need the smacking down of Corpse as peeps, temporary paper ballot voting, reinstatement of the Fairness doctrine and reaffirmation of separation of Church and State right now.

[azul]

14. To heck with impeachment,

if the president, with his super emergency powers, decides any supreme court justice is helping the enemy, he can toss him into Git-mo and throw away the key. Might just serve them right, for selling the people out and making up shit about business rights.

The frauds on this court are ruining America with this picking the president and granting corporate rights rulings, IMHO.

[Kingofalldems]

11. Special Prosecutor needed--investigate the Supreme Court

Especially Clarence Thomas.

[travelingtypist]

12. Gee, Joan.

Little bit late, aren't you? Say like ten years on December 12th, 2010?

I'm so sick of living behind Alice's looking-glass.

[bemildred]

13. Who could have predicted that these shallow fuckwits would damage the credibility of USSC?

:sarcasm: