Still wonder exactly why Justice Samuel Alito shook his head and mouthed the words “not true” during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address? He objected to the president’s saying the ruling reversed a century of law.
The president touched off a controversy when he broke with tradition – and decorum, his critics said – by criticizing the court’s recent campaign finance decision in his speech with six justices in attendance and bound by their own tradition of not reacting to what is said. Justice Antonin Scalia once said he no longer goes to the annual speech because the justices “sit there like bumps on a log” in an otherwise highly partisan atmosphere.
“With all due deference to the separation of powers,” Obama said, “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.
“It seems clear from Alito’s questioning when the court heard argument in the case that he was taking issue with the president’s assertion that the court reversed 100 years of law, rather than with Obama’s reference to foreign influence, which also has generated some legal debate.
At the September argument, Alito suggested to attorney Seth Waxman that 20 years was the appropriate time frame, encompassing two high court decisions that upheld limits on corporate spending in campaigns.
via Boulder Daily Camera – Boulder, CO AP NEWS.
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