On Fox News today, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) called President Obama’s State of the Union criticism of the Supreme Court “unseemly,” and said that Chief Justice John Roberts “is wholly within his rights” to criticize the White House.
Hatch was weighing in today on the back-and-forth between the White House and Roberts, who spoke out last night about the President’s earlier criticism of the Court’s decision in a key campaign finance case. Roberts called the remarks in Obama’s State of the Union “very troubling” and said the yearly speech has “degenerated to a political pep rally.”
Hatch, for his part, agreed: “It was a political pep rally. I got so tired of it myself, just bouncing up and down at whatever strikes you as interesting.”
He continued:
I thought it was unseemly for him to, you know, criticize the Supreme Court while they’re sitting there. I don’t blame them if they never come back to another State of the Union. Because they’re a separate branch of government. They’re not there to be lectured by the President.
Hatch was also asked about Robert Gibbs’s defense of the President’s comments, in which he said: “What is troubling is that this decision opened the floodgates for corporations and special interests to pour money into elections – drowning out the voices of average Americans.”
Hatch responded: “What do you expect Robert Gibbs to do? I mean, he’s the chief apologist for the President. I don’t blame him for that. I think it’s stupid that he stood by him on this issue.”
