Justice Antonin Scalia’s appearance at a meeting organized by the House Tea Party caucus and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Monday provoked new cries from liberals and some academics that conservative justices are shedding the appearance of impartiality. The session, part of what Bachmann calls a series of constitutional seminars, was closed to the media. Lawmakers said Scalia advised them to read the Federalist Papers and to follow the Constitution as it was written.
University of Texas law professor Lucas A. Powe, a historian of the liberal Warren Court, said Scalia’s appearance made the court look partisan. “He is taking political partisanship to levels not seen in over half a century,” Powe said.
I’m on Scalia’s side here, though probably not for reasons he’d appreciate. I think the notion that the Supreme Court is nonpartisan is so laughable that I’m surprised anyone even defends the idea any longer, and as long as it’s going to be nakedly partisan, why shouldn’t justices engage in partisan pep rallies? Might as well be honest about the whole thing.