January 30, 2010

Samuel Alito and John Roberts experience ecstasy, each in his own way.



Alito, so serenely beatific and floating in the moment ...



Roberts, beset with inner turmoil and straining to keep himself clamped in ...



... as the President arrived to deliver his State of the Union Address:



And so it would be not be the model of judicial restraint, Chief Justice Roberts, whose personal reaction would break the solemn decorum of the holy chamber. It would be Justice Alito, in a moment of selfless abandon, whose spirit would burst forth — open the floodgates — in a harrowing crisis of faith — the dark night of the soul that says not true.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

You wanna talk about torture-- here's some torture for 'ya! These guys, as judges, spend their lives submersed in logic, with close attention to wording. It must be very hard for them to sit there and hear untruths uttered and definitions stretched.

Not that a Republican president would be any different.

Margaret Thatcher... now if she were transported through time and space to be President of the United States... she could speak clearly and truthfully without every other word being a misrepresentation of some sort.

Short of that, the SCOTUS justices ought not to have to endure this nonsense.

Trooper York said...

"The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on". - (King Henry IV, Part III Act II, Scene II).

Ignorance is Bliss said...

So who is the person to the right of Pelosi in red. They seem very out of place.

Trooper York said...

"I cannot tell what the dickens his name is". - (The Merry Wives of Windsor Act III, Scene II).

Unknown said...

seriously, ann ? again ? are you honing your skills for a yet to be released work of fiction ? this series of 'lets use these photos as justifications for what we already imagine to be the case' makes it seem like you're some closeted creative writer, yearning to break free of the chains of academia.

Mark O said...

Have you never involuntarily closed your eyes just before having to endure something you really wanted to avoid?

Peter V. Bella said...

Roberts was suppressing a rip snorting laugh at babbling Biden. He is a man of decorum and protocol.


wv: tentiona=Burkas in Iona

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It would be Justice Alito, in a moment of selfless abandon, whose spirit would burst forth — open the floodgates — in a harrowing crisis of faith — the dark night of the soul that says not true.

Off with his head ;)

traditionalguy said...

Alito is clearly a man who is at peace with his professional standards of the true legal scope of case findings in differing fact sets. That kind of mind is easily alerted to a falsehood. Alito's type taste ideas and the words used expressing them like we taste our food and wine. There are many tastes out there, but a corked bottle or a spoiled meat cause a red alert alarm to go off quickly. Words can be indeed poison.

Phil 314 said...

I believe Justice Alito was trying to get to his "happy place"
( I'm on the beach, sipping a Mojito. I can hear the gentle waves...)

and then from far off he heard "With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court ...

former law student said...

I recognize Roberts's experssion. Roberts is having a bout of diarrhea, and is hoping he can hold out for an hour before racing to the toilet again.

former law student said...

So who is the person to the right of Pelosi in red.

I believe that is The Honorable Lorraine C. Miller, Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Thanks fls.

For some reason I kept seeing her as a man in a red flannel shirt with the sleeves partly rolled up.

Ned said...

Looking for another lasting impact of obama...other than last Dem majority in our lifetime...last SOTU which SCOTUS attends...that's what electing a community organizer can do for you!

Penny said...

Not so sure that anyone is in "ecstasy", but I would hope that each person there is proud to be there, and in the service of the citizens and this great country.

kentuckyliz said...

or he took some Librium to remain relaxed and happy for the Call. You. Out. he was about to get...without leaping up and choking the living chit out of him.

Without any deference to the separation of powers.

Anonymous said...

Remember what Joe Wilson's wife said after his "You lie!" exclamation. She said she asked him, "Who was that nut who yelled out 'You lie!'?" and at first didn't believe him when he told her it was him. I wonder what Mrs. Alito thinks.

MayBee said...

I wonder what Mrs. Alito thinks.

I'll bet she thinks "I can't believe you can sit there quietly while the people that painted you as a racist cheered for the guy who voted against you for no reason. What an amazing man you are".

Penny said...

I'm sure it was something like that, May Bee.

Congratulators make fine bedfellows afterall.

Opus One Media said...

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark, at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my fate with kings.