Supreme Court Justices Discuss Twitter

from the twitting dept

It does't look like we'll be seeing much Tweeting-from-the-bench on the Supreme Court any time soon, but the Hillicon Valley blog highlights an amusing moment at a recent House Judiciary subcommittee meeting, attended by two Supreme Court Justices -- Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer in which they're asked if they plan on using Twitter any time soon. Scalia says he doesn't even know anything about it -- and notes that his wife refers to him as "Mr. Clueless." Reassuring to know that of a Supreme Court Justice. Breyer, however, seems to indicate a realization that Twitter, as a communication platform, really could be quite powerful.

Subcommittee Chair Steve Cohen: Have either of y'all ever consider tweeting or twitting?

Justice Scalia: I don't even know what it is. To tell you the truth, I have heard it talked about. But, you know, my wife calls me Mr. Clueless -- I don't know about tweeting.

Justice Breyer: Well, I have no personal experience with that. I don't even know how it works. But, remember when we had that disturbance in Iran? My son said, 'Go look at this.' And oh, my goodness. I mean, there were some Twitters, I called them, there were people there with photographs as it went on. And I sat there for two hours absolutely hypnotized. And I thought, 'My goodness, this is now, for better or for worse, I think maybe for many respects for better, in that instance certainly, it's not the same world. It's instant and people react instantly... and there we are. It's quite a difference there and it's not something that's going to go away.

You can watch the exchange below:

Filed Under: justices, supreme court
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