Roberts has hurt feelings about the SOTU:
Roberts said anyone was free to criticize the court, and some have an obligation to do so because of their positions.
“So I have no problems with that,” he said. “On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum.
“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 the requirements of protocol — has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling.”
Something’s going on with embedding, but here’s the song.
gbear
Concerned chief justice of the SCOTUS is concerned.
Which is actually surprising; I didn’t think he was capable of being concerned.
Mike Kay
Greenwald supports the Citizens United Not Timid decision. If Greenwald supports it, then it must be a solid decision.
beltane
Why do these right-wingers feel the need to constantly whine? If Roberts is so proud of his decision in Citizens United you’d think he’d be happy to step up and take the criticism like a man.
Snarki, child of Loki
What Roberts needs to learn is very simple:
“If you don’t want to be CALLED a fascistic shithead, then don’t ACT like a fascistic shithead.”
A lesson so simple that it seems to have eluded almost all of the modern GOP and their fellow travelers.
Punchy
Wait…..Roberts thinks the SOTU is partisan? Has he SEEN HIS OWN FUCKING JUSTICES?
Mike Kay
I blame Rahm!
Tomlinson
He’s just pissed because he wasn’t invited to Massa’s tickling party.
Robin G.
Sounds like someone’s troubled in his pants. (Is it just me, or does this sound like a fetish fantasy?)
Face
Clearly, the upstanding and honorable thing to do when faced with such an egregious insult is to resign in protest, declaring he will no longer be a part of such shenanigans.
dmsilev
What, was he afraid that he was going to get lynched by a gang of feral Senators?
-dms
Ash Can
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Scalia’s reaction at the SOTU, and Roberts’ reaction now, are not the reactions of impartial actors. The correct reaction on the Supremes’ part is, “Hey, we know you’re not happy, but like it or not, our decision was the product of the laws currently in place. If you’re not happy with this outcome, then the burden is upon the legislature to change the laws to ensure a more acceptable outcome in the future. In the meantime, we’ll continue to do our jobs.”
But no. We have butthurt. These guys are put on the defensive by the criticism because they know they didn’t act impartially to the best of their ability. They know they overstepped.
peach flavored shampoo
@Tomlinson: Roberts really ought to STFU, before Rahm tracks him down in the SC showers and dick-slaps him into reversing Bush v. Gore.
dr. bloor
“I’m not kidding, officer! We were just sitting there minding our own business, when that Negro surrounded us with his posse!”
Dork
fixed.
norbizness
The song I was thinking of was Cheap Trick’s “He’s a Whore.”
P.S. SIX-DOLLAR SHIRTS? HOLY FUCK!
Adam Collyer
Is the Chief Justice asking the People to empathize with him?
Just curious…
Adam Collyer
@Ash Can:
To be fair, I’m pretty sure Justice Scalia took that attitude. Justice Alito was the one with the surprising reaction and under the breath muttering.
bemused
‘Conservatives’ in this country have got to be the whiniest bunch of babies on earth.
beltane
@Adam Collyer: I tried but I’m just not feeling his pain. Now where is Rahm and his mighty phallus of doom?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Mike Kay: It’s entirely up to you of course but do you think you could possibly give it a rest?
Good god.
Ash Can
@Adam Collyer: D’oh! I stand corrected. Alito, not Scalia. Thank you.
geg6
@Ash Can:
This.
@dr. bloor:
And this, for sure.
mistermix
@Tomlinson: FTW
Napoleon
@beltane:
That would be a great tag for post about Rahm.
Terry
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall Obama criticizing the Supreme Court or even its decision in the campaign finance case. He stated his belief that the consequence of that ruling would be bad for America and its political system. Which is different from saying “Roberts is evil or stupid” or even that the legal reasoning of the majority was wrong or flawed. Obama could have said what he did even if he himself would have concurred as a hypothetical Justice.
If a judge sets a man free on a technicality despite a preponderance of evidence of guilt, he acted properly. But there is a bad consequence in the real world.
JGabriel
Aw, po’ John Roberts got his widdle feelings hurt.
You know what else is troubling? The fucking Citizens United decision, asshole.
.
Bill E Pilgrim
It’s funny, one way that reads as if he thinks it’s the cheering that’s troubling, but read another way it sounds as if he wishes that the Justices could be up and hollering too.
Scalia, amusingly, is more direct that this is exactly what he’d prefer:
jwb
@bemused: Unfortunately, whining seems to work for conservatives, so we’re likely to see a lot more of it.
Ash Can
@Bill E Pilgrim:
These guys seem to be a little unclear on the concept of this whole Supreme Court Justice thing.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Ash Can: I think it would be great if they did, because then the country would see how almost all of them were cheering and hollering with the Republicans.
Which of course is exactly what they want to avoid anyone seeing.
Davis X. Machina
It’s not like Scalia cares.
Scalia’s remaining jurisprudential reputation, which presently fits neatly into an Altoids tin, will shrink further when the details of his — or his chambers’, since he’s smart enough to have used a cut-out — ex parte communications with the Bush camp in December 2000 come out.
Adam Collyer
@beltane:
Terrorizing Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald, I’d wager.
Face
Did Sam Alito miss this memo? Pretty sure he did. His fucking expression was all over cable news, it was.
Mike Kay
@bemused:
The Firebaggers and Hippies are giving them a run for the money. The DFH are freaking out because Kos said he’ll dick slap kucinich if pulls a nader on HCR.
Mike Kay
@Bill E Pilgrim:
I love the smell of punched hippie in the morning.
aimai
So, the Re-nis is replacing the Cle-nis?
aimai
Max
@Mike Kay: Kos is getting hammered on Twitter, but he’s holding firm.
He’s going to get his Berkeley parking permit revoked, but good on him.
Mike Kay
@Max: Really. Can you be kind enough to post a link.
I didn’t know hippies twittered. I just thought they put on their Emo make-up on and cut themselves.
Wilson Heath
The Roberts court’s conservative five act like a pack of anarchists. It’s not just overturning long established laws and decisions. It’s also the fact that they leave a gaping and unpredictable void instead. Judicial economy is a quaint principle as they decide to leave every area of law they touch uncertain and open to new, corollary disruptions by making pronouncements bolder and stronger than is needed for the decision. This is a feature, not a bug. They want us to be a nation without laws so the powerful have a free hand to rob, rape, and pillage us some more.
Max
@Mike Kay: See below. Hopefully, Linky works.
http://twitter.com/markos
Legalize
I’m just glad the term “dick-slapping” has become accepted in polite society.
jibeaux
If Obama had just funneled a bunch of corporate and foreign cash into sinister-looking ads with the Supreme Court appearing in negative, that would have been o.k. Just talking to the nation about it in an important speech, I mean nobody paid him anything extra to do that, so it was pretty clearly the wrong venue.
nancydarling
OT I got an email from my son last night that Doris “Granny D” Haddock died at age 100 yesterday. There was a story on Huffpost and NPR, but nothing in major papers or tv. There were headlines about Corey Haims (whoever that is) dying of an over dose. My son spent a month living in her basement and working on her Senate campaign in ’04. It was a magical time for him. Doris is at the top of his list and mine too for the model of a life well lived. RIP Doris.
Trinity
@Max: I love following kos on twitter. He rarely backs down. Yesterday he got into it with Chuck Todd about polls. Good stuff.
Makes this DFH proud.
beltane
@Mike Kay: There is always the possibility Markos will redeem himself by endorsing Jesse Ventura for president in 2012. I read a Cenk Uyger diary yesterday that claimed MSNBC is engaged in a conspiracy to discredit Ventura’s conspiracy theories. It is an outrage.
SteveinSC
@dr. bloor:
Fixed.
Mike Kay
@beltane: Cenk Uyger is greek for Conspiracy theory.
Ed in NJ
@Mike Kay:
Kos doesn’t even have any credibility on his own site anymore. For gosh sake, he’s courting Crist over to the Dem side at the expense of supporting the real Dem, all for the sake of gaining a seat there. His readers are justifiably asking how this fits with his “more and better Dems” mantra.
dmsilev
@beltane:
One of the columnists in the local rag was writing about that story, and decided to go with a ‘five dollar foot-long’ reference…
-dms
Wilson Heath
@jibeaux:
Brilliant. Who wants to produce a movie, “The Truth About Judicial Activism in the Roberts Court”?
mr. whipple
I don’t mind Kos going after Kucinich, but not long ago Kos was on the kill the bill bandwagon.
Unless of course that was just posturing and eleventy dimensional chess. The problem is you can’t believe the sincerity of a lot of the LW blogosphere since they started this crap, so I have no idea where people really stand on anything.
Joey Maloney
@Davis X. Machina: Say whaaaaaat? Details, please.
Napoleon
@mr. whipple:
Of course a lot of it is posturing, but now we are down to the point where everyone pretty much knows exactly what is going to be voted on, so now its put up or shut up time.
NobodySpecial
@Bill E Pilgrim:
I find if you treat Mike Kay as the Cole-approved version of B.O.B. that he’s much easier to live with.
Mike Kay
@mr. whipple: I think he was quickly embarrassed be the wonk bloc who reminded him about the 40,000 people who die because they have no coverage. Plus, he’s never been a naderite, like alot of the Kill the bill Hippies.
Max
@beltane: Keith O has a diary up disputing that whole mishegas.
GReynoldsCT00
@beltane:
I see a new tag in this LOLZ
Dannie22
Hi Mike Kay! Love your posts!
Mike in NC
Judge Roberts should go Bork himself.
To test this theory, somebody should staple a few teabags to their hat, write some nonsense on a sheet of cardboard, and go stand on a street corner. The TV cameras will almost surely appear within ten minutes.
Napoleon
@mr. whipple:
PS, by the way I would like to point out another difference between Kos and Kucinich’s threats (beyond the fact that Kucinich actually gets a vote). Kos was holding out for a public option, something that for much of the debate appeared to be a plausible alternative. Kos goal appeared achievable. Kucinich is holding out for an alternative that it has been clear from the beginning simply did not have enough support to be a politically plausible alternative. Kucinich position is such that his vote was always going to be no, just like Mitch McConnell.
Mike Kay
@Dannie22:
you’re quite welcome.
geg6
@Mike Kay:
Not that you give a damn, obviously. But you’ve become such a troll that you have now joined BOB in the pie filter.
Gawd, I hate to do that, but damn your act got old very fast.
WereBear
Deep inside every conservative is the still, small, nagging voice of their conscience.
They do terrible things to shut it up.
someguy
I don’t see anything in the Constitution about not frogmarching the Justices around D.C. and keeping them in a cell in the city jail during non-duty hours. I’d support this if it would stop the whining.
Q. Why did Chief Justice Roberts cross the road?
A. Because he’d flooded his own side of the road with girly tears.
Mike Kay
@geg6: sniffle
Randy P
@beltane: There’s a response to Ventura’s diary by Keith Olbermann, that says Ventura is misinterpreting events.
Olbermann says he was allowed to be on air with an Iraq-skeptical stance months before Ventura’s show, and that the main issue was just that Ventura didn’t work as a host, though he makes a great guest.
Take that for whatever you feel it’s worth.
Svensker
@Mike Kay:
Don’t let any Greeks hear you say that. Cenk is Turkish.
bemused
@jwb:
Toddlers eventually grow up if their bad behavior is consistently curbed. If not, it just escalates. Even if the Dems didn’t let R’s get away with so much outrageous behavior , the R’s still have the media who are like blinded doting grandparents cooing how mean everyone is.
Randy P
@Svensker: OK, I don’t want to let any Greeks OR Turks hear me ask this, but is there any difference between Greek coffee and Turkish coffee? I suspect that somewhere there’s a coffee factory that just slaps on two different labels in final packaging. I haven’t had Turkish coffee in a while so I may be wrong, but it seems to me the final product in the cup is pretty much the same.
kansi
@Adam Collyer:
LOL. Good one, Adam
Jamey
Took Roberts, what, two months to put together a three sentence-fragment statement?
Quack-quack, indeed…
Wilson Heath
On the Kucinich thing, a real progressive accepts progress. Nothing the progressives got us last century came easy or arrived perfectly formed. If you stand in the way of progress, I’ve got no use for you and will happily replace you with someone who will move the progressive agenda along. Kos’ Nader comparison is totally apt — a vote for Nader isn’t a vote for progress but a wish to stick one’s head in the sand instead of really fighting to move things in the right direction. Naderites can keep their cloud of smug and patchouli the hell away from me.
And I have a real hard time when someone who has great healthcare paid for by the American people takes a “moral” stand to make sure that 30 million people won’t get health insurance coverage.
Bhall35
No mention of FDR or Reagan criticizing the court during the SOTU. But this is the AP we’re talking about, so I don’t really expect accuracy.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
Xenos
@Davis X. Machina: I remember a rumor that Roberts himself was the cut-out (as he was a former Rehnquist clerk), but I never could find any evidence for it. Since the Federalists are so chummy there must be dozens of people who could have acted as a cut-out without raising any suspicion.
I have always suspected something like that happened as the winning legal arguments never made much sense, and were never intended to have precedential authority. It just reeked of a set-up. It may make me the legal equivalent of a truther or a birther, but there you go.
gwangung
What Nader stands for is progressive, but what he does is NOT progressive–his political efforts seem more geared to top down compliance with principles as opposed to ground up grassroots effort (ie, little has been done to build his party into viable alternative candidates in local elections).
mattH
While it certainly wasn’t an explicit “this was a bad decision, wrongly decided on both the merits and law”, the underlying subtext was saying exactly that. The ruling rejected 100 years of prior jurisprudence and legal understanding, was decided on almost as wide grounds as it could be, and opens the door to foreign influence in US elections. Obama was also implying that Roberts lied when he said during his appointment hearings that he would be respectful of precident and operate in as minimalist a fashion as he could. Roberts isn’t overreacting to Obama at all.
Svensker
@Randy P:
My hub’s family is Greek. When I first met his grandmother, she served us the traditional coffee in the tiny cups and I, not knowing nothing, said “Oh, I love Turkish coffee!” Grandma shot me a look that almost peeled off my skin and said, “We drink GREEK coffee. Turkish coffee is for TURKS.”
One Greek cookbook writer that I know of has admitted that the coffee is the same but that it originated with the Turks.
gopher2b
Err….but Justice Roberts, you don’t have to attend. Just ask Justice Thomas; he’s right down the hall from you. He never goes.
Xenos
@Svensker: Once when my Greek father-in-law visited he brought some Loukoumi. Having just read “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” to my daughter I showed it to her and said ‘Look- Papou brought you some Turkish Delight’. He turned bight red and yelled “Nooooo! LOUKOUMI!”
He still sends us olive oil and wild oregano every winter, so I might be forgiven by now.
Royston Vasey
Yay! for New Zealand’s finest!
RV in NZ
Svensker
@Xenos:
I too have made that error and been similarly corrected.
Either way, I LOVE that stuff. And it goes so well with Greek coffee. :)
asiangrrlMN
Good god. More wilting delicate flowers. Somebody get Roberts a fainting couch!