‘Bubbe, You Were Sleeping at the State of the Union!’
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains her televised snooze
February 13, 2015
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, with Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan during the President Obama’s State of the Union address on January 20, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
When Supreme Court Justice and general badass Ruth Bader Ginsburg got caught snoozing during President Obama’s State of the Union address in January, the Internet, naturally, loved it. She has a reputation for nodding off during the notoriously long speeches, and her front-row seat makes it easy to get caught on camera.
But Ginsburg says she wasn’t just bored that night—she was a little buzzed. The Blaze reports that the 81-year-old justice told a crowd at Washington, D.C.’s George Washington University that the justices indulged in a bit of wine before the event, and she wasn’t “100 percent sober.”
“Because before we went to the State of the Union, Justice Kennedy brought in … it was an Opus something or other, very fine California wine, and I vowed this year, just sparkling water, stay away from the wine, but in the end, the dinner was so delicious, it needed wine,” Ginsburg said. “So I got a call when I came home from one of my granddaughters and she said, ‘Bubbe, you were sleeping at the State of the Union!”
She also said Justice David Souter, who used to sit next to her, knew to keep her awake. “Now I have Justice Kennedy on one side, Justice Breyer, and they’re sort of timid about it.”
You do you, RBG.
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Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.
