- Click here to sign up for free special live coverage of the State of the Union
Donald Trump will see at his State of the Union speech at least a portion of the Supreme Court justices who last week struck down his landmark tariff policy.
While not all nine justices attend these joint session addresses, it’s rare for all of them to skip out – meaning the president is likely to come face-to-face with at least some who ruled against him.
In his first term, Trump had the rare opportunity to nominate three Supreme Court justices.
Last week, two of them joined conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and all three liberal justices to strike down most of the tariffs Trump implemented since coming back into office for a second term.
The president was furious.
He convened an emergency press briefing at the White House where he called Justices Amy Comey Barrett and Neil Gorsuch traitors and an ’embarrassment to their families.’ He said he was ‘ashamed’ of them and claimed they are ‘disloyal to the Constitution.’
Trump claimed that conservative justices are not as loyal as liberal ones are to Democratic presidents.
The majority Supreme Court decision handed down on Friday ruled that Trump was overreaching his executive powers when it came to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
President Donald Trump is likely at his State of the Union speech to face at least a few Supreme Court justices who ruled against his tariff policies
It’s the first time Trump could see the justices he called ‘traitors’
At his sixth State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening, Trump will likely have the chance to see in-person Supreme Court justices for the first time since that ruling.
It’s unclear which will attend and which will now – including on the dissenting and on the majority opinion side of things.
At the Friday press conference, Trump glowed about Justice Brett Kavanaugh – the lone justice he picked who ruled the tariffs should stay in place.
He was joined in the dissent by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samual Alito, who is rumored to be considering stepping down before the end of the current president’s term so Trump gets yet another pick.
With a 6-3 conservative majority on the court – and three being trump picks – it was hard to imagine an instance where the current president faced dissent on one of his policies.
He said as much during his tirade in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Friday.
‘The Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing and I’m ashamed of certain members of the Court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,’ the president said before taking questions.
‘It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,’ he alleged without proof.
The Supreme Court building is right across from the US Capitol, will Trump will address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, February 24, 2026
The president also spun the legal defeat into a win, saying that now he has a greater ability to regulate trade.
‘While I am sure that they did not mean to do so, the Supreme Court’s decision today made a President’s ability to both regulate trade and impose tariffs more powerful and more crystal clear rather than less,’ Trump said. ‘I don’t think they meant that.’
The president continued to tear into the conservative justices on Truth Social that day, accusing Gorsuch and Barrett of voting against Republicans ‘and never against themselves.’
‘At least I didn’t appoint Roberts, who led the effort to allow Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for years to continue to do so — But we won’t let it happen. The new TARIFFS, totally tested and accepted as Law, are on their way!’ Trump continued.
On Monday, he said on social media that he would refer to the highest US court with lowercase letters because he doesn’t have respect for them.
