Breaking: Scalia Will Continue Not Attending SOTU

Antonin Scalia hasn't attended the State of the Union address in a decade and will continue that tradition tonight.

This just in from The Hill:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told The Hill on Monday evening that he does not plan on attending the State of the Union address on Tuesday.

The conservative-leaning jurist said that he hasn’t “gone to the State of the Union in at least 10 years, and I’m not starting tomorrow night either.”

Good to know.

Seriously:  Scalia is right not to lend the credence of the judiciary to what has long been a partisan pep rally.  But inertia is not news.

FILED UNDER: Law and the Courts, US Politics, ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Muffler says:

    The SOTU address is not a pep rally…. It’s required by the Constitution. Regardless of what Scalia thinks, it is a time when the people who represent the People should show the unity and strength of the Republic regardless of personal preference. Scalia’s job is at the behest of the People and so he should show like all the other representatives (using the word as to signify people in our government). This childish behavior in protest of last year (yes 365 days ago) regarding the President signifying his displeasure of a SCOTUS ruling is not a personal attack and Scalia knows it. He is just behaving like a child expressing delayed displeasure which is no out of context.

  2. IP727 says:

    The last time I looked, the SCOTUS is not a part of congress,
    and as an appointed body,they are not deemed representatives.

    Article 2.sec 3:
    He shall from time to time give to the {Congress }Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; ~~~etc. etc.

    If the kenyan fraud shows contempt for the court,
    then why not show him the same favor?

  3. Muffler says:

    I suppose your last two lines lay out your opinion quite clearly. I do not agree with you or your base approach to the President, but SCOTUS is the body that represents the third leg of the checks and balances, the continuity and most importantly the stability of the laws of the land. The individual decisions by the members to dishonor the office of the president and as such the People to whom they serve is unbecoming of a SC Justice. SCOTUS isn’t supposed to show any bias regardless of how one or two think they were treated. They had an entire year to get over it or approach the situation for which all these guys did was faint emotional hurt. They could have been adults, dealt with it and moved on for the good of the country. Oh the faux outrage!

  4. IP727 says:
  5. Bob Jacobson says:

    The state of the union is of no concern to Scalia or his Wrecking Company. He prefers to wander endlessly the quiet halls of the 18th Century. Where he should remain.