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Three U.S. Supreme Court Justices Play Hooky and Skip the U.S. President's State of the Union Address, thus Politicizing the Nation's Highest Court More Than Ever

By Andis Kaulins

The Boston Globe has an editorial justly criticizing U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scala, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas for actively playing hooky and not attending U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union message, in spite of the President's obviously serious and necessary push to promote bipartisanship on the national scene.

It was juvenile "bush league" move by those Justices.

The Globe Editorial is titled:

By skipping Obama speech, justices bring politics to court.

We definitely agree with the Globe Editorial that these three Justices, who not only are arch-conservative in their views, but who also represent a minority of the U.S. population in many other demographic aspects, are doing the United States Supreme Court no service by acting as revengeful spoiled children, just because Obama criticized the Supreme Court in last year's State of the Union.

A man or a woman on the nation's highest court should be above pettiness in official matters, even if the Justice's person has great personal weaknesses. We have nothing against some Justices on the Supreme Court being conservatives, just as there should also be Justices who are centrists or more left-leaning liberals. But their first allegiance must be to the LAW and to the NATION, not to their personal political card or to their own flawed personality.

The Justices of the highest court of the land should in fact and at all times lead by example and should pursue conduct which is a model for us all, regardless of their own judicial or political views. If they are unable to do this, they are unfit for an office some consider to be the most respected in the land.

Such respect is not engendered by playing hooky. It is true that attendance at the State of the Union is of course not "officially required", but demonstrative political absence is a clear abdication of duty to America in general under the motto "divided we fall". Supreme Court Justices who actively promote political divisiveness in the United States of America are unfit for their office. We have enough politicians already doing that, thank you. We need no more.

Judges who hold the nation's people and institutions to the legal standards governing a system under the rule of law can not act "politically" as they like and do what they want. THEY ALSO are bound by the written and unwritten rules of the very same society which has awarded them their high position.

In fact, by "acting" politically these Justices are not only emphasizing the political side of the nation's highest court, but they are thus demeaning their own judicial argumentation in case opinions, solidifying the impression that many observers have than not LAW is being spoken in Supreme Court decisions, but rather political views are being aired, a deplorable situation which reduces respect for the law and undermines the nation's foundations.

We suggest to these men that they reconsider the importance of their official positions and start ACTING like impartial Justices of the highest court in the land, rather than like juvenile primma donnas.

Shame on you, gentlemen.

Full post as published by LawPundit on January 27, 2011 (boomark / email).