WASHINGTON AP – Justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday Supreme Court justices shouldn’t take their judicial oaths at the White House, calling it “incorrect symbolism” for an independent branch of government.
Justices take two oaths before assuming the bench. Stevens, at 88 the oldest sitting justice, took both of his in 1975 at the Supreme Court building, with President Gerald Ford in attendance. Now-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor did the same in 1981, with President Ronald Reagan coming down to the Supreme Court to watch her take her oath.
