Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a.k.a. the Notorious RBG, has made it pretty clear in the past that she’s not exactly President Trump’s biggest fan — though despite the fact that she won’t be in attendance at the president’s State of the Union address tomorrow, it’s probably not because of their very public beef with one another.
Instead of attending Trump’s speech to congress on Tuesday, the 84-year-old justice will instead be holding an event at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island as part of her speaking tour, CNN reports. Is she using the move to throw shade? Probably not. Her event at the university’s law school was announced in August, while Trump’s SOTU date wasn’t even set until November.
However, it doesn’t exactly make her decision surprising either. As many have pointed out Ginsburg did attend all eight of President Obama’s SOTU addresses yet decided to forego Trump’s first speech to congress last year as well. It’s also not as uncommon for SCOTUS justices to skip the State of the Union as you may think — Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also passed on Trump’s first address last year and Antonin Scalia was known for not attending a single one in the 20 years before his death.
No matter how deliberate Ginsburg’s alternate plans were, it’s worth noting that she and Trump have a well-documented feud. In 2016, Ginsburg said of a potential Trump presidency, “for the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.” In the same interview, she also called the now-POTUS a faker — to which, as you may remember, he responded on Twitter, “Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot – resign!”
Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot – resign!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2016
While she may not have done it on purpose or meant it as a *Ginsburn*, we’re just going to go ahead and say the scheduling of her speaking tour does seem pretty…strategic. And I can’t say I blame her.