Samuel Alito Makes a Funny

It always comes from where you least expect it.

At least that was my thought when I read Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's argument against giving New York state prosecutors access to Donald Trump's income tax records.

The avowed conservative addressed the issue thusly: “The subpoena at issue here is unprecedented. Never before has a local prosecutor subpoenaed the records of a sitting president. The court's decision threatens to impair the functioning of the presidency...”

Two things come to mind. One, how timely the old joke about Republicans remains. ("You know what a Republican is? They're people who believe nothing should ever be done for the first time.")

And two, “Impair the functioning of the presidency”? Are you serious, Samuel?  Because when you put that under a microscope, it implies the current presidency is functional.

Where?

It might be that humor comes more naturally to Alito (born April Fool's Day, 1950) than any of us suspect. Maybe he just wants to have us on. I mean, Trump and the morally-stunted ghouls he surrounds himself with have been accused of many things. But functioning?

Yikes.

That is beyond the pale.

I thank Samuel for the laugh. In these dark and anxious days I very much need one. I just didn't think he had it in him.

Sorry, Samuel.