Anyone noticed who was missing in action from the Supreme Court

[bigdarryl]

[FSogol]

1. Thomas and Scalia. n/t

[Ian David]

3. They were busy playing "Find The Pube." n/t

[avaistheone1]

16. lol

You bad.

[prole_for_peace]

11. My brother said Thomas and Scalia weren't there because

they don't like being in the same room with black people.

[msanthrope]

12. Funniest post today! n/t

[babylonsister]

2. Yes...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x155954#156192

http://twitter.com/jonathanhsinger/statuses/8304524574

[GMA]

4. Given what happened last night, I'd be surprised

if any of the Court show up next year.

[FSogol]

7. BS. Reagan called the Court out over School Prayer and there wasn't any (p)outrage. n/t

[harkadog]

17. BS. The school prayer cases were decided in 1962

Long before Reagan was on the scene.

[FSogol]

19. BS, back at you. Here's the exact Reagan quote:

"And let me add here: so many of our greatest statesmen have reminded us that spiritual values alone are essential to our nation's health and vigor. The Congress opens its proceedings each day, as does the Supreme Court, with an acknowledgment of the Supreme Being -- yet we are denied the right to set aside in our schools a moment each day for those who wish to pray. I believe Congress should pass our school prayer amendment." Reagan 1/25/1988

The scumbag's full SOTU address is posted here: http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/P/rr40/speeches/su88rwr.htm

Reagan spend a lot of time griping that the Court had upheld a ban on school prayer.

[harkadog]

25. BS back at you too. Reagan was asking Congress to pass

an amendment. He was not criticizing a recent SC decision. Try again.

[onenote]

18. Reagan example not a good one. Better example is FDR

In his 1988 SOTU, Reagan called for amendments to restrict abortion and to allow school prayer, but he wasn't calling out the current court for a specific recent decision that it had made. In fact, none of the members of the court involved in the decisions establishing that school prayer violated the Constitution were on the court in 1988 and only three of the seven justices that were in the majority in Roe were still on the court.

A better example is FDR's 1937 SOTU, which did not name the "Supreme Court" but criticized the "Judiciary" and the "Courts" for failing to adopting interpretations of the Constitution that were preventing the Executive and Legislative branch from taking necessary action to address the Great Depression. Not long thereafter, of course, FDR gave a fireside chat in which he called out the SCOTUS even more specifically, proposing legislation to change the composition of the court.

[FSogol]

20. Long time ago, but wasn't the ban on School Prayer upheld

by the Court in 1987? IIRC, it was a big issue during the elections.

[onenote]

22. nope. There was a case (moment of silence) in 1985.

Again -- not really "recent" in the way that the Citizens United case was recent or the cases that led FDR to criticize the court were recent when he spoke

[alsame]

5. They were home counting all the bribe money they got from the

corporations.

[Jennicut]

6. Thomas.

Alito was there since he muttered at the President. Roberts was there as well. Scalia did not show up either?

[WhiteTara]

8. no, who?

[rurallib]

9. probably in church praying for the county's salvation.

[glitch]

15. And rubbing sandpaper on their tender bits in homage to Opus Dei.

Roberts and Alito had to wait until they got home later.

[DarthDem]

10. Scalia, Thomas, and Stevens

I thought it was too bad that Stevens wasn't there, because he might well (secretly) have enjoyed the slapdown. Breyer certainly looked like he was pleased.

I guess Scalia and his faithful running buddy had Cheneyian "other priorities."

[tigereye]

21. Stevens filed a fiery dissent - you are probably right...

[onenote]

23. scalia never attends. In fact, not attending is pretty common

I posted a list of SCOTUS attendees up in the thread. Only Breyer consistently attends. THree times he's been the only Justice to attend.

[onenote]

13. Actually, SCOTUS attendance at the SOTU was par for the course

It has been a long time (if ever) that all of the SCOTUS justices appeared at the SOTU. In fact, Scalia has never come to one during his time on the court. Breyer is the only consistent attendee. He missed in 2000, when none of the Court showed up. Since then he's attended every SOTU -- three times he was the only Justice in attendance. Here is a list of those Justices who have attended in recent years:

2008: Roberts, Breyer, Alito, Kennedy
2007: Roberts, Breyer, Alito, Kennedy
2006: Roberts, Thomas, Breyer, Alito
2005: Stevens, Breyer
2004: Breyer
2003: Breyer
2002: Kennedy, Breyer
2001: Breyer
2000: None (due to illnesses and travel conflicts)
1999: O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsberg, Breyer
1998: Rehnquist, O'Connor, Souter, Thomas, Breyer
1997: Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsberg, Breyer, White (retired)
1996: Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsberg, Breyer
1995: Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Ginsberg, Breyer, Blackmun (retired)

[DarthDem]

26. Thank You!

That's really interesting, and totally contrary to what I would have guessed and thought I remembered. Figures that Dollar Bill Rehnquist, the Chief Justice of the United States, couldn't be bothered to go, pretty much ever. Maybe the "oratory" of the idiot he helped install pained him too much? Same with Ginsberg and, except for 2005, Stevens (minus the helping to install part as to both, of course).

Where did you find this? *Great* stuff.

[onenote]

28. Link:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/24/obama-speech-scotus-in-the-house/

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/feb/24/6-supreme-court-justices-obama-speech/?print

[CK_John]

14. Several are missing on purpose to form a new government in case of disaster. n/t

[FSogol]

24. Then Scalia's attendance should be mandatory. n/t

[Bucky]

27. No, that's just for a token cabinet secretary (it was Clinton's turn last night)

The new government Scalia and Thomas are off working on is the one GE, Halliburton, and Black Water want to install once they figure out a fool proof plan.

[onenote]

29. Clinton was not the designated "survivor"

The designated cabinet member was Shaun Donovan (secretary of HUD). While Clinton was not in attendance she couldn't be the designated "survivor" attendee because, by custom, that person has to be in the US and available immediately to take control of the government in the event it was deemed necessary to do so. (ALthough, oddly, that "custom" conflicts with the law which provides the order of succession and puts the Secretary of State well ahead of the HUD Secretary).

[Bucky]

30. This guy?

If terrorists blow up the Congress, would this geek really be able to heal the nation?



Maybe they should only let Arne Duncan sit out the SOTUs from now on. Or Hillary--she'd do in a pinch.

[Uzybone]

31. Justice Stevens, probably too disgusted to be seen in public

with the corporate 5

[onenote]

32. Justice Stevens never attends the SOTU

Certain justices, including both Scalia and Stevens, never attend the SOTU.