By Andrew Dunn and Ariane de Vogue
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is unlikely to attend President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address this week.
The justice will be in Rhode Island for a late-morning “fireside chat” at Roger Williams University’s law school before speaking at a temple in Providence at 5 p.m. ET.
The chat is only open to student and faculty and the synagogue talk is a ticketed event for its members only. The first event is open to the press but the second is not.
A court spokesperson declined immediate comment Monday morning.
The 84-year-old justice attended all of former President Barack Obama’s annual speeches. Historically, it is not unusual for some justices to skip the address. Late Justice Antonin Scalia, who, before he died in 2016, had not attended a State of the Union in nearly 20 years, once derided the televised event to “cheerleading sessions.”
Along with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, Ginsburg also did not attend Trump’s first congressional address last February.
Ginsburg and Trump have clashed publicly in the past. The justice called Trump a “faker” in a July 2016 interview, leading Trump to later counterpunch on Twitter, saying she “has embarrassed all by making very
dumb political statements about me” and that “her mind is shot.”
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