--- title: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Skipping Trump's State of the Union description: President Trump is delivering his first State of the Union address. But Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg won't be there canonical: https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-29T15:19:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:03:22.736Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Skipping President Trump's State of the Union Address og:description: She's not the first Supreme Court justice to skip the annual address og:url: https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d09e560823fb67a/6988f9cefb4eac5828895775/ruth-bader-ginsburg-sotu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: An Historic Evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Skipping President Trump's State of the Union Address twitter:description: She's not the first Supreme Court justice to skip the annual address twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d09e560823fb67a/6988f9cefb4eac5828895775/ruth-bader-ginsburg-sotu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Skipping President Trump's State of the Union Address > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Donald Trump Started the Debate With a Shot at Ruth Bader Ginsburg [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Started the Debate With a Shot at Ruth Bader Ginsburg](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aWsQHPHI.m3u8) (0:51)  _Published 2016-10-20. When asked about the Supreme Court_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 29, 2018 3:19 PM UTC  Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presents onstage at An Historic Evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center on September 21, 2016 in New York City. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presents onstage at An Historic Evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center on September 21, 2016 in New York City. Michael Kovac—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 29, 2018 3:19 PM UTC Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will not attend President Trump’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday. Instead, Ginsburg will be in Rhode Island, giving a talk of her own as part of a series of speaking engagements across the U.S. during the Supreme Court’s monthlong break, the [Associated Press reports](https://apnews.com/cd2013dbe1d94ee192ef0b020be15d9f/Justice-Ginsburg,-84,-signals-intent-to-work-for-years-more). Ginsburg’s tour spans the country, from the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to law schools and synagogues along the East Coast. But her decision to skip the State of the Union is not necessarily surprising, as Trump and Ginsburg have [clashed in the past](http://time.com/4402787/ruth-bader-ginsburg-doubles-down-on-donald-trump-criticism-he-is-a-faker/). In 2016, Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/753090242203283457?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fblogs%2Fblog-briefing-room%2Fnews%2F371073-ginsburg-will-not-attend-trumps-first-state-of-the-union) that Ginsburg’s “mind is shot – resign!” after the justice called him a “faker.” And Ginsburg is not the first Supreme Court justice to skip a State of the Union — in fact, it’s relatively common. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were notably absent from President Barack Obama’s 2015 address. Justice Antonin Scalia wasn’t there either, though he [stopped attending](http://time.com/3672123/state-of-the-union-supreme-court/) the speeches altogether in 1997, calling the address a “childish spectacle.” Trump is expected to emphasize his economic successes during Tuesday’s [address to Congress](http://time.com/5122156/trump-state-of-the-union-preview/) in an effort to move past the scrutiny of the ongoing Russia investigation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/"},"headline":"Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Skipping President Trump's State of the Union Address","datePublished":"2018-01-29T15:19:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:03:22.736Z","description":"She's not the first Supreme Court justice to skip the annual address","url":"https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d09e560823fb67a/6988f9cefb4eac5828895775/ruth-bader-ginsburg-sotu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d09e560823fb67a/6988f9cefb4eac5828895775/ruth-bader-ginsburg-sotu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An Historic Evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg","caption":"An Historic Evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg","creditText":"Michael Kovac—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/","name":"Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Skipping President Trump's State of the Union Address"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump Started the Debate With a Shot at Ruth Bader Ginsburg","description":"When asked about the Supreme Court","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aWsQHPHI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-20T02:36:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aWsQHPHI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/","duration":"PT51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```