对最高法院大法官而言，忍受一年一度的国情咨文演讲是一场考验面无表情、严守分寸的公民仪式。但正如近期历史所示，这并非总是易事。
周二唐纳德·特朗普总统的演讲将受到密切关注，不仅因为其内容，还因为谁会亲自到场聆听——尤其是人数不确定的、坐在前排的大法官们。
今年的出席情况格外引人注目，就在四天前，最高法院以6:3的多数推翻了总统广泛实施的关税政策，这对他的经济议程是一个重大挫折。
特朗普猛烈抨击最高法院，尤其指责六位投反对票的大法官，其中包括他任命的尼尔·戈萨奇（Neil Gorsuch）和艾米·科尼·巴雷特（Amy Coney Barrett）两位大法官。
总统称他“为法院的某些成员感到羞耻，绝对为他们没有勇气为国家做正确的事而感到羞耻。”
至少有一位大法官塞缪尔·阿利托（Samuel Alito）此前表示，他可能不再出席——此前在2010年奥巴马总统国情咨文演讲中，他对法院的裁决进行了激烈批评。
但近几十年来，几乎总有一位或多位大法官出席年度国会联席会议。法律并未强制大法官必须到场，但惯例要求他们出席，主要是为了装点门面。他们是这场盛会中低调却关键的一环，必须在充满高度党派色彩的修辞和回应的场合中，礼貌而坚忍地端坐。
目前最高法院尚未公布谁将出席。邀请函发送给每个部门，大法官们可自行决定是否参加。
传统上，出席者会身着司法长袍，集体被护送至众议院，坐在前排显眼位置。
退休大法官通常也会被邀请，只是不穿长袍。此外，还有法院其他官员如法警和书记员一同出席。
首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨（John Roberts）和埃琳娜·卡根（Elena Kagan），以及前大法官斯蒂芬·布雷耶（Stephen Breyer）和安东尼·肯尼迪（Anthony Kennedy）多年来一直是常客。
但2010年的仪式让大法官们陷入极度不适。
民主党人欢呼奥巴马总统批评最高法院保守派对公民联合组织诉联邦选举委员会（Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission）一案的裁决，该裁决一周前发布，消除了企业和工会在联邦选举中无限制支出的法律障碍。
“在不违反对分权原则的尊重下，”奥巴马说，“最高法院推翻了一个世纪的法律，为特殊利益集团——包括外国公司——在我们的选举中无限制支出打开了闸门。”
坐在听众席仅几英尺外的阿利托摇了摇头，并口型被解读为“不属实”，指的是关于“外国公司”的表述，法院消息人士后来证实了这一点。
出席的阿利托五位同僚大法官面无表情。
此后，阿利托在纽约的一次听众面前表示，他感觉“像那株著名的盆栽植物”，短期内不会再出席。事实上，在总统批评事件后的第二年，阿利托正在夏威夷参加法学院研讨会。
如今75岁的大法官还笑着指出，他的同事们“更自律，不表现出任何情绪或意见”。
罗伯茨称2010年国情咨文的政治氛围“非常令人不安”。
这位联邦司法机构负责人表示，针对法院的党派性言论和手势让他质疑同僚是否应该继续出席。
在2010年的演讲中，国会成员坐在大法官身后，当奥巴马谈到法院的选举支出案时，许多人热烈鼓掌，尤其是纽约州民主党参议员查尔斯·舒默（Charles Schumer）。
“这确实让我思考我们是否有必要到场，”罗伯茨在争议发生几周后表示，“在某种程度上，国情咨文已经沦为政治集会，我不确定我们为何要出席。”
当时白宫新闻秘书罗伯特·吉布斯（Robert Gibbs）迅速间接抨击罗伯茨，称“唯一令人不安的”是公民联合组织的裁决本身。
尽管如此，罗伯茨从未缺席过作为首席大法官的国情咨文。
包括2021年拜登总统向国会联席会议发表的演讲，因疫情限制出席人数。稀疏且间隔较远的观众中包括罗伯茨、几位内阁成员和少数国会议员，所有人都戴着口罩。
一些大法官经常缺席国情咨文，例如约翰·保罗·斯蒂文斯（John Paul Stevens），他在2010年国情咨文后数月便辞职。
罗伯茨的前任首席大法官威廉·伦奎斯特（William Rehnquist）也很少亲自出席，有一次他认为绘画课更值得参加。
克拉伦斯·托马斯大法官称这“对法官来说非常不舒服”。他参加了2009年奥巴马的首次国情咨文，但此后未再出席。
“电视上听不到很多东西，”他曾说，“嘘声、欢呼、叫嚷和私下评论。”
另一位更直言不讳的缺席者是已故的安东宁·斯卡利亚（Antonin Scalia）大法官，他将电视直播的国情咨文比作“啦啦队集会”。
“我不知道这是什么时候开始的，但它已经发生了，现在你就像坐在那里，而掌声线让国会一半的人站起来，另一半则在另一处站起来，”他曾说，“这是一场幼稚的表演。我很反感被要求赋予它尊严。”
他最后一次出席是在1997年，但2001年9·11恐怖袭击后，他与其他四位大法官一起出席了特别国会联席会议。
斯卡利亚，一位通常言辞丰富且情绪外露的法学家，直言不讳地说：“你就坐在那里，看起来很蠢。”
即使是触及爱国主义、战争老兵和小狗等所谓无党派话题的言论，也让大法官们陷入两难：是否应该鼓掌、起立鼓掌或两者都不做？礼仪规程从未明确，公众可能会认为法院成员冷漠或漠不关心，如果在致敬马丁·路德·金纪念日时没有任何反应，而其他人都在会议厅里进行两党鼓掌。
最高法院必须出席的“庭外”活动是总统就职典礼。去年特朗普第二次四年任期的公开宣誓就职时，九位大法官全部到场。罗伯茨和卡瓦诺分别负责总统和副总统的宣誓仪式，其他七位大法官只需安静地坐在国会大厦圆形大厅。
布雷耶是被称为“常客”的大法官，自1994年加入法院以来几乎每次都出席，包括退休后的一次。
他因流感缺席了2000年比尔·克林顿总统的最后一次国情咨文演讲，那一年没有大法官出席。
许多人认为大法官们不得不参加此类活动，这只是公职中又一项不受欢迎的杂务。但布雷耶在2005年告诉我们：“人们可以选择是否参加。我希望参加，所以我去。”
以下是根据福克斯新闻研究和国会记录整理的近年来最高法院成员出席国情咨文或同等国会联席会议的名单，按资历排序：
– 2025年：约翰·罗伯茨、埃琳娜·卡根、布雷特·卡瓦诺、艾米·科尼·巴雷特、安东尼·肯尼迪（退休）
– 2024年：罗伯茨、索尼娅·索托马约尔、卡根、尼尔·戈萨奇、卡瓦诺、凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊、肯尼迪（退休）
– 2023年：罗伯茨、卡根、卡瓦诺、巴雷特、杰克逊、肯尼迪、布雷耶（退休）
– 2022年：罗伯茨、布雷耶、卡根、卡瓦诺、巴雷特
– 2021年：罗伯茨（因疫情限制，仅有限出席）
– 2020年：罗伯茨、卡根、戈萨奇、卡瓦诺
– 2019年：罗伯茨、卡根、戈萨奇、卡瓦诺
– 2018年：罗伯茨、布雷耶、卡根、戈萨奇
– 2017年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、布雷耶、索托马约尔、卡根
– 2016年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、露丝·巴德·金斯伯格、布雷耶、索托马约尔、卡根
– 2015年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、金斯伯格、布雷耶、索托马约尔、卡根
– 2014年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、金斯伯格、布雷耶、卡根
– 2013年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、金斯伯格、布雷耶、索托马约尔、卡根
– 2012年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、金斯伯格、布雷耶、卡根
– 2011年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、金斯伯格、布雷耶、索托马约尔、卡根
– 2010年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、金斯伯格、布雷耶、塞缪尔·阿利托、索托马约尔
– 2009年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、克拉伦斯·托马斯、金斯伯格、布雷耶、阿利托
– 2008年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、布雷耶、阿利托
– 2007年：罗伯茨、肯尼迪、布雷耶、阿利托
– 2006年：罗伯茨、托马斯、布雷耶、阿利托
– 2005年：布雷耶
– 2004年：布雷耶
– 2003年：布雷耶
– 2002年：肯尼迪、布雷耶
– 2001年：布雷耶
– 2000年：无
– 1999年：桑德拉·戴·奥康纳、肯尼迪、大卫·苏特、托马斯、金斯伯格、布雷耶
– 1998年：威廉·伦奎斯特、奥康纳、苏特、托马斯、布雷耶
– 1997年：安东宁·斯卡利亚、肯尼迪、苏特、托马斯、金斯伯格、布雷耶、拜伦·怀特（退休）
– 1996年：伦奎斯特、奥康纳、肯尼迪、托马斯、金斯伯格、布雷耶
– 1995年：伦奎斯特、奥康纳、斯卡利亚、金斯伯格、布雷耶、哈里·布莱克门（退休）
It goes against the very instincts of some of the most powerful officials in the U.S.: get all dressed up, appear before a national TV audience, but sit there like statues without betraying any words or emotion.
For members of the Supreme Court, enduring the annual State of the Union address is a civic exercise in poker-faced discretion. As recent history has shown, that has not always been easy.
Tuesday’s speech by President Donald Trump will be watched closely not only for what is said, but also for who will be there in person to hear it — especially an undetermined number of justices with front-row seats.
This year’s appearances are especially of interest, coming four days after a 6-3 majority of the court struck down the president’s sweeping tariffs, in a sweeping setback to his economic agenda.
Trump lashed out sharply at the court, especially the six members who voted against him, including two he appointed to the bench — Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
The president said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for the country.”
At least one member of the bench, Justice Samuel Alito, has previously stated he will likely no longer go — after lingering, dramatic criticism leveled at a court ruling by Obama in his 2010 address.
But one or more justices have almost always attended the annual speech to Congress and the nation in recent decades. Court members are not required by law to be there, but custom has dictated their appearance, mostly for show. They are a key, if low-key, part of the pageantry, and are compelled to sit politely and stoically, amid the often high-spirited partisan rhetoric and response of the event.
There is no word yet from the high court on who will appear. Invitations are sent to each chamber, and the justices have individual discretion over whether to go.
Those who do traditionally wear their judicial robes, are escorted into the House as a group, and take prominent seats up front.
Retired justices usually get asked as well, minus the robes. They are joined by other officers of the court, such as the marshal and clerk.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elana Kagan, along with former Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy, have been regular attendees over the years.
But the ceremony put the justices in a highly uncomfortable position in 2010.
Democrats cheered President Barack Obama when he dressed down high court conservatives for its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, issued a week earlier, which removed legal barriers preventing corporations and unions from spending unlimited sums on federal elections.
“With all due deference to the separation of powers,” Obama said, “the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.”
Alito, sitting just feet away in the audience, shook his head and mouthed words interpreted as “not true,” referring to the line about “foreign corporations,” court sources later confirmed.
Alito’s five fellow justices in attendance showed no emotion.
He had been a regular at previous addresses, but months after the incident, Alito told an audience in New York that he felt “like the proverbial potted plant” and would not be attending in the near future. In fact, the year after the presidential dress-down, Alito was in Hawaii at a law school symposium.
The now 75-year-old justice also, with a smile, noted that his colleagues “who are more disciplined, refrain from manifesting any emotion or opinion whatsoever.”
Roberts labeled the political atmosphere at the 2010 address “very troubling.”
The head of the federal judiciary has said partisan rhetoric and gestures aimed at the court left him questioning whether his colleagues should continue to attend.
During that 2010 address, members of Congress sat just behind the justices, many applauding loudly when Obama made his remarks about the court’s election spending case, especially Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
“It does cause me to think whether or not it makes sense for us to be there” Roberts said weeks after the controversy. “To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I’m not sure why we’re there.”
Then-White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded quickly at the time with an indirect attack on Roberts, saying “the only thing troubling” was the Citizens United ruling itself.
Regardless, Roberts has never missed a State of the Union as chief justice.
That included 2021 with President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress that was limited in attendance because of the pandemic. The sparse, widely-separated crowd included Roberts, a few Cabinet officers and a smattering of congressional members, all wearing masks.
Some justices were regular no-shows at the State of the Union, including John Paul Stevens, who stepped down from the court months after the 2010 State of the Union.
Roberts’ predecessor, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, also rarely appeared in person, once because he considered a painting class more preferable.
Justice Clarence Thomas called it “very uncomfortable for a judge to sit there.” He went to Obama’s first annual address in 2009, but has not been back since.
“There’s a lot that you don’t hear on TV,” he once said, “the catcalls, the whooping, hollering and under-the breath comments.”
Another more vocal no-go was the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who compared the televised State of the Union to “cheerleading sessions.”
“I don’t know at what point that happened, but it has happened, and now you go and sit there like bumps on a log while applause lines cause one half of the Congress to leap up while [another line] causes the other half to leap up,” he once said. “It is a juvenile spectacle. And I resent being called upon to give it dignity.”
He last attended the event in 1997, but did attend a special joint session of Congress after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, with four other justices.
Scalia, a generally verbose and animated jurist, said bluntly: “You just sit there, looking stupid.”
Even remarks touching on supposedly nonpartisan topics like patriotism, war veterans and puppy dogs leave the justices in a quandary: should they applaud, should they stand and applaud or do neither? The protocols are never clear, and the public might view the court members as aloof or uncaring if they offer no reaction during, say, a salute to Martin Luther King Jr.’s memory, when everyone else is shown engaging in bipartisan applause in the chamber.
One “extra-court-ricular” event that is a must-attend for the Supreme Court is the presidential inauguration. All nine members were at last year’s public swearing-in for Trump to a second four-year term. Roberts and Kavanaugh had official duties to administer the oaths of office to the president and vice president, respectively, but the other seven justices only had to sit there, again quietly, in the Capitol Rotunda.
Breyer is the one justice who might be called a “regular” at the State of the Union, going to nearly all of them since joining the court in 1994, including one in his retirement.
He missed President Bill Clinton’s last annual address in 2000 because of the flu. That year, no justices were in attendance.
Many believe the justices have to go to such events, that it is just another unwanted chore of office. Not so, Breyer told us in 2005. “People attend if they wish to attend. I do wish to attend, so I go.”
Here’s a list of Supreme Court members attending recent State of the Union or equivalent Joint Session of Congress addresses in recent years, based on Fox News research and congressional records. Names are listed by seniority:
– 2025: John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Anthony Kennedy (retired)
– 2024: Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Kennedy (retired)
– 2023: Roberts, Kagan, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Jackson, Kennedy, Stephen Breyer (retired)
– 2022: Roberts, Breyer, Kagan, Kavanaugh, Barrett
– 2021: Roberts (limited speech attendance because of pandemic)
– 2020: Roberts, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh
– 2019: Roberts, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh
– 2018: Roberts, Breyer, Kagan, Gorsuch
– 2017: Roberts, Kennedy, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
– 2016: Roberts, Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
– 2015: Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
– 2014: Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan
– 2013: Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
– 2012: Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan
– 2011: Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
– 2010: Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sotomayor
– 2009: Roberts, Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito
– 2008: Roberts, Kennedy, Breyer, Alito
– 2007: Roberts, Kennedy, Breyer, Alito
– 2006: Roberts, Thomas, Breyer, Alito
– 2005: Breyer
– 2004: Breyer
– 2003: Breyer
– 2002: Kennedy, Breyer
– 2001: Breyer
– 2000: None
– 1999: Sandra Day O’Connor, Kennedy, David Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer
– 1998: William Rehnquist, O’Connor, Souter, Thomas, Breyer
– 1997: Antonin Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Byron White (retired)
– 1996: Rehnquist, O’Connor, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer
– 1995: Rehnquist, O’Connor, Scalia, Ginsburg, Breyer, Harry Blackmun (retired)
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