Supreme Court Justice Breyer is on Twitter, but Don't Friend Him

No one can resist social media. The urge to tweet and post on Facebook walls reaches to the highest levels of our nation, as Justice Stephen Breyer is taking advantage of Twitter and Facebook. What would you expect a Supreme Court Justice to tweet about?

"Can't believe Scalia isn't going to fight that fender bender ticket in traffic court!

Or maybe "What has Clarence Thomas' wife been up to lately? Haven't heard much about her in a while."

Breyer, 72, told a congressional hearing on the Supreme Court's budget that he has a Twitter account because of his interest in the protests in Iran after the 2009 presidential election, the ABA Journal reports. Twitter represented one of the best ways of learning what was happening in that country.

Since then, Breyer said he has received requests to follow him on Twitter, but has turned them down. The same applies to Facebook.

"It's probably not a good idea," he said of making public comments on social media sites, The Hill reports. Breyer said judges generally should be anonymous and that he only communicates with his children through Twitter and Facebook.

At the hearing, Congressman Steve Womack, a Republican from Arkansas, brought up the issue of social media and asked whether the justices can tweet if they wanted to.

Justice Anthony Kennedy did not answer that question, ABA Journal reports, but said he had the sense that the Supreme Court's work was discussed in social media. "That's good," he said.

Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, the appropriations subcommittee chairwoman, said the questions showed how the times have changed. "I never thought we would ask Supreme Court justices about their tweeting," she said as the hearing ended.

Related Resources:

• Justice Breyer: Don't 'follow' me on Twitter (The Hill)
• Apple Sues Amazon over its About-to-Open "App Store" (FindLaw's Technologist)
• Twitter Settlement: Site Promises to Increase Security (FindLaw's Decided)
• 'Do Not Track Me' Bill Would Block Internet Spying (FindLaw's Technologist)