POLITICO's Kasie Hunt, who's in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words "not true" when President Barack Obama criticized the Supreme Court's campaign finance decision.
"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. "Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."
The shot of the black-robed Supreme Court justices, stone-faced, was priceless.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stood up behind the justices and clapped vigorously while Alito shook his head and quietly mouthed his discontent.
Schumer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) are trying to find a way to legislate around the Supreme Court decision.
"All you have to do is read the dissent, the four justices who said this will defintely open the floodgates to big corporate special interests. Anybody who thinks that's not true is out of touch with the American political process." Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen told POLITICO he expects to unveil the package in the next 10 days to two weeks.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) was glad the president called out the Supreme Court.
"He [Alito] deserved to be criticized, if he didn't like it he can mouth whatever they want," Weiner said. "These Supreme Court justices sometimes forget that we live in the real world. They got a real world reminder tonight, if you make a boneheaded decision, someone's going to call you out on it."
But one conservative legal expert took sides with Alito -- at least on the substance of Obama's comments.
“The President’s swipe at the Supreme Court was a breach of decorum, and represents the worst of Washington politics — scapegoating ‘special interest’ bogeymen for all that ails Washington in attempt to silence the diverse range of speakers in our democracy,” said Bradley A. Smith, chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, in The Corner blog on Nationalreview.com. - Politico Story
Obama took to the tactic of trying to bully the Supreme Court for their ruling on Campaign Finance. He however forgot that there is a separation of powers there.
He also forgot that their job is to rule on law, not on what Obama wants. Every single dollar that is spent on elections is spent by special interests. They donate that dollar to the campaign or spend it on ads because they have an interest in the outcome. Obama and Democrats have never been on the side of business and therefore want to limit that funding. Why not, it benefits them if they can keep it out of elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment