Opinion: OMG! Justice Stephen Breyer explains his use of the Tweeter; c vid b lo

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Two associate justices of the Supreme Court made rare appearances Thursday before a House Appropriations subcommittee.

Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas was curious what the nation’s top judges thought about the new social media and their impacts on the country.

Justice Anthony Kennedy thought it was generally a good thing to the extent such media prompt more public information, involvement and awareness of the living law.

Justice Stephen Breyer went on a little longer, as you can watch on the C-SPAN video below.

He explained that his involvement with Twitter -- or the Tweeter as he’s decided to call it -- erupted from the fascinating but horrifying eyewitness window it provided into the ultimately smothered Iranian uprising of 2009.

Breyer said from time to time people ask to follow him on Twitter and he’s flattered.

But he thinks such kinds of public activity by judges are probably not the best thing for them to be doing. He also explains the origin of the black judicial robes.

Then, the Supreme Court Justice admits that since he doesn’t know how to take his Twitter page down, he just leaves it there for now.

Case closed.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Video courtesy of C-SPAN Archives