Missing: Samuel, Antonin & Clarence

To anyone in our partisan age under the illusion the U.S. Supreme Court is non-partisan, please direct your attention to the three judges not present at President Obama's State of the Union address this past week. For those who did not watch, care to guess?  Alito, Scalia & Thomas.

No judges are ever required to attend this event and though I did not check, I have little doubt this kind of right-center-left display is not unique in modern times. For me, that does not make it any less regrettable. When did this stark split become so pronounced? How did we become so divided as a nation?  How can it be ameliorated?

I'm concerned what will happen if our one fairly reliable centrist on the court leaves before any of the others. More than that, I yearn for the days when our judicial branch could be counted on to rise above the sometimes fickle whims of we, the people.