The president doesn’t just show up to deliver the State of the Union-the speaker of the House of Representatives sends him a written invitation to appear before the two houses of Congress. President Barack Obama delivering his State of the Union speech on January 25, 2011. Justice Antonin Scalia ( who died in 2016) stopped attending the State of the Union in 1997, reportedly calling it “ a childish spectacle." Justice Clarence Thomas also regularly skips the event, and Justice Samuel Alito hasn’t attended since 2010, when he visibly expressed disapproval over President Barack Obama’s criticism of the Court’s decision in the controversial Citizens United case. Not all justices have chosen to observe this custom, however. Still, it’s become customary for Supreme Court justices to sit front and center, dressed in their official black robes, during the State of the Union. In its mandate that the president inform Congress about the state of the union, the Constitution doesn’t mention the judicial branch of government. Supreme Court Justices and the State of the Union An estimated 38 million television viewers watched President Biden's first State of the Union in 2021. With the advent of radio, television and the Internet, the State of the Union has become an even bigger opportunity for presidents to speak directly to Americans, including highlighting achievements and outlining priorities and policies for the future. Since Wilson, presidents have chosen to go before Congress to deliver their annual messages, though some presidents reverted to a written message at times. By choosing to deliver his annual message directly to Congress, citing the authority of the Constitution, Wilson sought to redefine the president’s role. The Constitution put into place a deliberate separation of powers between the three branches of the federal government, tasking the legislative branch with making the nation’s laws, the executive branch with enforcing them and the judicial branch with interpreting and applying them.īut Wilson, a Progressive Democrat, believed the nation would benefit from a more active, visible president working alongside Congress in the lawmaking process. (Credit: Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images) The Executive Branch Addresses Congress President Franklin Delano delivers his 1941 State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. That December, Wilson returned before Congress to give the first modern State of the Union address (though it wouldn’t officially be called that until Franklin D. Shortly after his inauguration, Wilson went to Capitol Hill to make a speech about tariffs, becoming the first president since John Adams to presume to address Congress directly, on its own turf. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson decided to buck that tradition. But Thomas Jefferson, the third president, chose to give his annual message to Congress in writing rather than make the trek to the Capitol-kicking off a tradition that would last nearly a century. Constitution states that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”Īccording to the National Archives, George Washington first fulfilled this particular presidential duty on January 8, 1790, when he addressed the new Congress in the Senate Chamber of Federal Hall in New York City (then the U.S. WATCH: Ultimate Guide to the Presidents on HISTORY Vault What Is the State of the Union?Īrticle II, Section 3 of the U.S. Although its roots go all the way back to the nation’s founding, the State of the Union as we know it today is a thoroughly modern tradition. president in front of the two houses of Congress, giving his view on the state of the nation and his legislative goals for the year-is a familiar winter tradition. These days, the State of the Union-the yearly speech by the U.S.
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