Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, along with more Supreme Court Members, attended President Obama’s State of the Union address. Before the State of the Union, the members of the Supreme Court enjoyed dinner together. Justice Ginsburg apparently had too much wine because during the president’s speech, she fell asleep. Although she did vow not to have any wine with dinner, she said:
I vowed this year…just sparkling water, stay away from the wine but in the end, the dinner was so delicious, it needed wine!
According to the Chicago Sun Times on Feb. 13, Justice Ginsburg admitted she was not 100 percent sober. She described the audience being for the most part, awake because they were sitting there bobbing their heads up and down and sitting stone faced. However, she must have had a little too much wine during the dinner party and ended up falling asleep.
According to USA Today, falling asleep during these speeches is nothing new for Justice Ginsburg. However, she did appoint two other members of the Supreme Court to help keep her awake but according to her, they are both rather timid about doing so. She used to have another member, Justice David Souter, who is now retired, try to keep her awake. She said he would give her a jab when she started to nod off. Now, it is supposed to be Justice Stephen Breyer and Kennedy who are to keep her awake but this time, they didn’t succeed in the job.
Those she described as bobbing their heads up and down in the audience were actual members of Congress who were sitting behind her during the speech.
Justice Ginsburg received a call from her granddaughter when she got home from the speech. Her granddaughter was watching and saw her fall asleep when the camera was on her. She said to her grandmother:
Bubbe, you were sleeping again!
