By Dave Andrusko

I suppose it was only a matter of time and opportunity before Chief Justice John Roberts would respond to President Obama's State of the Union assault on a campaign-finance decision the Court had just rendered. As you may remember, Democrats rose to their feet, hooting and hollering, as the President denounced the Court's 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. Protocol requires that the Justices, six of whom were in attendance, do not respond to anything, including being enveloped in a sea of hostile politicians.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts address students at the University of Alabama Law School.

Chief Justice Roberts' response came in a Q&A after delivering a speech yesterday to law students at the University of Alabama. After choosing not to answer criticism of the decision itself, Roberts did respond to the question "whether it was proper to use the State of the Union address to 'chide' the court for its decision," according to the Washington Post.

"First of all, anybody can criticize the Supreme Court without any qualm," he said, adding that "some people, I think, have an obligation to criticize what we do, given their office, if they think we've done something wrong. …So I have no problems with that." At that point the tone of his voice changed:

"On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum," he told the students. "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."

You may remember that when Obama lectured the Court, Associate Justice Samuel Alito shook his head and appeared to say, "Not true." Ironically, Alito took most of the heat for privately mouthing two words while Obama got off scotch-free even though "for the first time in modern history," wrote Chief Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford on her CBS News blog, a President "took a direct shot at the Supreme Court."

Needless to add White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs took another shot at the decision this morning as did Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. However Roberts may have had the final word yesterday.

"To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I'm not sure why we're there," Roberts said.

Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com.

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