Justice Breyer's on Twitter & Facebook, But Don't Count on Him Friending You
Twitter was abuzz Thursday after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s revelations that he’s an active user of the popular social media platform.
Breyer revealed his Twitter and Facebook activities as he testified on Capitol Hill.
Breyer’s interest in following the Iran protests after the country’s 2009 presidential elections led to the justice creating a Twitter account, Reuters’ Front Row Washington blog reports.
But don’t expect to interact with the jurist. He’s turned down requests to follow him on the site. And he’s similarly nixed friend requests on Facebook. The Hill’s Twitter Room reports that Breyer doesn’t think it would be a good idea to have multitudes of Twitter followers and Facebook friends.
“Judges wear black robes so that they will resist the temptation to publicize themselves,” Breyer said. “Because we speak for the law, and that is to be anonymous. So I wouldn’t want to have followers on the tweeter or the Facebook page but for my children, and I can get in touch with them anyway.”
Breyer and Justice Anthony Kennedy were testifying at a congressional hearing focused on the Supreme Court budget. Kennedy did not answer a question asking if justices can tweet if they want to. But Kennedy acknowledged that the court’s work is discussed in social media.
“That’s good,” Kennedy said.
Last updated 6:50 a.m. Saturday to include CSPAN’s YouTube video.
