Roberts spoke to University of Alabama Law School students in Tuscaloosa. During a question-and-answer period, he was asked about the rare episode at this year’s address, in which President Barack Obama criticized the Court’s campaign finance ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, with the justices sitting in front of him. Senators sitting near the justices stood and cheered Obama’s remarks while the justices, as is their custom, sat impassively. Only Justice Samuel Alito Jr. registered mild disapproval, furtively shaking his head and appearing to mouth the words “not true.”
Roberts answered by saying first that the Court was fair game for criticism. “Anybody can criticize the Supreme Court without qualms … so I have no problems with that,” he said. But he went on to say, “There is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the Court — according the requirements of protocol — has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling.”
