Then he put on his apron and joined the Beltway Quilting Bee and Ladies Temperence League for their annual bake sale.
We've turned it into this panorama with an interminable speech in which every president, regardless of party,tries to stroke every erogenous zone in the electorate and it becomes a political pep rally, to use the phrase of Chief Justice Roberts last year. If it's going to be a pep rally, with the president's supporters standing up and braying approval and histrionic pouting on the other then it's no place for the judiciary and it's no place for the uniformed military and it's no place for non-adolescent legislators.
Scalia is the first real celebrity justice. When he appears at conservative events, supporters line up to greet a man who seems more oracle than orator. They are drawn not just to his originalist views but to the sense that he is a purist on a court of relativists. And his fans are often rewarded with a zinger from the justice that would set the hair of every liberal on fire. For example, in a 2006 talk to students in Switzerland, Scalia denounced the idea of giving Guantanamo detainees rights in federal courts, with a disturbingly personal take on the matter: "Give me a break. . . . If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, [Guantanamo] is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield, and they were shooting at my son, and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean, it's crazy.".Other justices, particularly those on the right, appear to be following Scalia's lead and presenting their politics publicly. This includes Justice Clarence Thomas, who is known for his utter silence during oral arguments. Outside the court, though, he has denounced our society's "focus on our rights" and the "proliferation of rights" protecting citizens. And the whole world saw Justice Samuel Alito shake his head and mouth "not true" as the president criticized the recent Citizens United decision on campaign finance at the State of the Union address last year.
Justices who flaunt their politics publicly do more than just lecture - they also can raise cash for ideological allies. Scalia and Thomas have reportedly attended events funded by conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch. Last week, Thomas admitted through a spokesman that he "dropped by" a Koch session in 2008. Both justices were even featured in Koch promotional material with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.