To the editor:

Can it be true that the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court would encourage it?

Chief Justice John Roberts says justices could opt out of attending the annual State of the Union address of the president. Yes, Justice Samuel Alito shook his head, mouthing “not true” and declared he would not attend again. Dissent is his right, but is attendance or absence?

1) Individual choice to attend or not attend is a right, but who should listen to the president’s address and opinions if not ALL the members of Congress and ALL the Supreme Court members? Attendance is not agreement or endorsement. Attendance is important to the state of the nation. The executive is one of three branches of our system of government.

2) The chief justice has thereby exposed or encouraged the court to be seen as a partisan agency, rather than a participant in the promotion of the common good.

If I regret anything about the last 30 years, especially the last 16 years, it is the partisanship of politics. Each side must speak and march in lockstep. Does a dissenting view make for enemies or a conversation? It is increasingly difficult to vote a split ticket.