How Judges Become Partisan

Greenwald rightly notes Alito's breach of etiquette last night:

On a night when both tradition and the Court's role dictate that he sit silent and inexpressive, he instead turned himself into a partisan sideshow -- a conservative Republican judge departing from protocol to openly criticize a Democratic President -- with Republicans predictably defending him and Democrats doing the opposite.  Alito is now a political (rather than judicial) hero to Republicans and a political enemy of Democrats, which is exactly the role a Supreme Court Justice should not occupy.

Andrew Cohen notes the president's important qualification, before his legitimate discussion of a political issue:

With all due deference to separation of powers ...

Jan Crawford's remarks were indeed asinine.