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

NEED TO KNOW

• President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address on Feb. 24, decrying the recent Supreme Court ruling against his tariff plan as "very unfortunate"
• The diatribe came just days after Trump called the justices who voted down his tariff plan a "disgrace to our nation"
• Only four of the nine Supreme Court justices were in attendance for the speech

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.

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"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.

The remarks come four days after the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down one of Trump's most touted policies of his second term so far: import tariffs.

The Supreme Court ruled last week that the president exceeded his authority when he imposed unprecedented tariffs on imports from almost every U.S. trading partner by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.

However, as he did at the time of the ruling, Trump promised he had plans to keep the tariffs in place, just not by using IEEPA.

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"Almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made, knowing that the legal power that I have as president could be far worse for them," he said. "Congressional action will not be necessary... We finally have a president who puts America first."

Trump's April 2, 2025, announcement of his tariffs, which he dubbed "Liberation Day," declared the imposition of a 10% baseline duty on most imports to the U.S., with some nations navigating higher tariffs if they didn't participate in trade negotiations, Time reported. Many countries retaliated by increasing taxes on U.S. goods, causing the stock market to dive.

The morning the SCOTUS ruling was announced, striking that plan down, Trump was hosting a breakfast with governors from around the country.

Although he dismissed members of the White House press corps from the room shortly after entering, CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported that, inside the closed-door meeting, the president called the Supreme Court ruling a "disgrace" and assured the gathered governors that "he has a backup plan."

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Later in the day, Trump ultimately did address the press, calling the ruling "deeply disappointing."

"I am absolutely ashamed of certain members of the court for not having the courage to do what's right for our country," Trump, 79, said. "When you read the dissenting opinions, there's no way that anyone can argue against them."

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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."

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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.

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