Majority of Supreme Court Justices Skip Trump's State of the Union After He Called Them a 'Disgrace to Our Nation'

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: People.com

President Donald Trump blasted the Supreme Court to their face during his State of the Union address following their recent ruling against his tariff plan. During his speech at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 24, the president made several pointed remarks at the members of the Supreme Court. Only four justices were present — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — but that didn't stop Trump from criticizing the court as a whole for their decision. "It was an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court, a very unfortunate ruling," Trump said, while the four present justices sat in the front row.

snip...

The president praised the three dissenting justices — Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — but called those who voted for the majority "a disgrace to our nation." He reserved his sharpest insults for Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch — the two Trump appointees who voted against his tariffs — calling them "an embarrassment to their families.”

"It's my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests," he continued. "It's almost like [the decision was] written by not very smart people." Five of the nine Supreme Court justices skipped Trump's 2026 State of the Union address: Republican-appointed justices Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch, as well as Democrat-appointed justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Read more: https://people.com/trump-insults-supreme-court-to-their-face-at-sotu-11913505

[cstanleytech]

1. And the hypocrite Alito didn't have the courage to show up and mouth that it wasn't true like he did to Obama.

[EuterpeThelo]

6. Wasn't that

about Citizens United, too? Obama's warning was spot on, to disastrous effect.

[Boomerproud]

7. He would've liked the praise heaped upon him by his master.

nt

[Polybius]

17. Alito voted the way Trump wanted

Trump would have praised him. He hasn't gone to a SOTU in years, btw.

[Ritabert]

2. Hey Donny are those foreign interests there in the room with you now?

[mdbl]

10. It's rich that the idiot who kisses the asses of every other dictator on the planet and even gives our tax money to one

Last edited Wed Feb 25, 2026, 08:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Says someone else has foreign influences?

[Ritabert]

11. You literally can't make this stuff up.

[3Hotdogs]

3. That was one thing Anal Fistula got right, They are a disgrace to the nation.

[Wonder Why]

12. You beat me to it. +10

[travelingthrulife]

4. Alito and Thomas probably don't want to face the Trump-Epstein victims.

[Polybius]

16. They both haven't gone in years

Link to tweet

[Evolve Dammit]

5. Everything he touches dies.

[Figarosmom]

8. Why did Kagan go?

And why was Thomas not there?

[Polybius]

18. Thomas hasn't gone since 2009

Not counting 2021 (when she missed a Covid-restricted speech), Kagan has attended every one since she became an Associate Justice. In 2021, only Roberts went.

Link to tweet

[Bayard]

9. Kagen should have walked out

Glad the others didn't show.

Sorry to say, we have to hope Thomas doesn't die, so the orange maniac doesn't get to shove another idiot in there.

[orangecrush]

13. Looks like breakup time

[onenote]

14. Every year several members of the Court skip the SOTU. Indeed, more often than not, a majority skips it.

In 2002, all but two members of the Court skipped Bush's SOTU - Anthony Kennedy and Steven Breyer attended. CJ Rehnquist and Justices Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Thomas, Ginsburg, and David Souter.
From 2003 through 2005, only Breyer attended.
Since 2000, five or more Justices have skipped the SOTU or the non-SOTU given by a newly elected president to a joint session -- 14 times.

[choie]

15. Why did Thomas, Alito and. Gorsuch decide not to attend?

I get why Sotomayor and Brown Jackson didn't.

Oh never mind, apparently it's not unusual for some not to attend.