JUSTICE ALITO'S STATE OF THE UNION MOMENT

I generally liked President Obama's State of the Union speech tonight, and especially enjoyed watching the Republicans sit while others applauded Obama's tax cut and helping the middle-class proposals. For me, though, the highlight was watching Associate Justice Samuel Alito mouth something to the effect of "that's not true" during the speech.

Justice Alito was responding to President Obama's comments that all but scolded the Supreme Court for their decision this past week, which gave corporations the Green Light to spend as much money as they want on political campaigns. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision is based on the notion that spending money equals speech. As such, the court ruled that the state has no business restricting the "free speech" of corporations because they're accorded the same protections as people under the 14th amendment (equal protection clause).

Missing in the Justices opinion is how a simple court reporter, who reworded a Supreme Court decision over 120 years ago, provided them with the "precedent" they needed for their decision.

As I wrote a few posts back, this week the U.S. Supreme Court essentially granted corporations the legal right to use all the financial resources at their disposal to influence political campaigns (because we all know that you and I have $10 million lying around the house, so we can match them any time we want, right?). 

Consider this: During the last presidential election, all candidates for federal office spent around $3 billion on their political campaigns. Three billion dollars was Exxon's profits for one quarter.

So I'm glad President Obama - who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago - took the opportunity to make the comment. Undoing over 100 years of legal precedent because you think corporations are people is not good for America.

Alito and his brethren needed the scolding.

- Mark

POSTSCRIPT: It appears I'm not the only one who took notice of Alito's State of the Union moment (now last night). Additional commentary on the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, and Justice Alito's moment, can be found here, here, and here.