Was there any talk about why 3 SCOTUS skipped speech?

They had a meeting with the Russians.

A couple never have gone. I forget which ones. I think RBG was the only noticeable absence.

Interesting - strange that they would skip such a big event tho.

Clarence Thomas: “I don’t go because it has become so partisan and it’s very uncomfortable for a judge to sit there. There’s a lot that you don’t hear on TV — the catcalls, the whooping and hollering and under-the-breath comments.”

Samuel Alito: “It’s very strange to go as a justice. We sit there like potted plants. People who watch on television have no idea what’s really happening on the floor. There’s a lot of back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans. They keep up a running commentary on what the president is saying. Some of it is pretty sharp. None of that is ever picked up because it’s Congress’s home turf. There are boom mikes around, so I think they could probably pick up these comments if they wanted to, but I guess that’s off limits.

“We sit there and the president will say something and members of the president’s party will stand up and start applauding. Members of the other party often will not. But every once in a while the president will say something that is nonpartisan. ‘The United States is a great country.’ ‘We support our men and women in uniform.’ Then everyone’s applauding and standing. We look foolish sitting there, so we stand up and start to applaud. And then we’ll get faked out. The president will get say, ‘This is a great country’—and everyone will stand up and start to applaud—‘because we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna enact this legislation.’ It’s a very odd experience.”

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RBG decided to stay home and read the Constitution for the first time.

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That is amazing since she was alive when it was written.

Ruth Gator Binsberg? Go Gator.

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and then Thomas and Alito skipped so that she'd have cover and it wouldn't be viewed as a partisan issue so much.

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So you would rather write out that post, than take 2 second to Google it? 2015 Article

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This year, six justices were in attendance, while three of the most conservative members of the court, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, were noticeably absent. In the modern era, custom has held that the justices would show up in their official robes and sit impassively. But in recent years, they've become more resistant to the tradition.

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Do you ever question your exteme inferences, when you realize the truth was very easy to find and quite different than your inferences?

Wow. In America, Brit boy, this is how it usually happens.

Must be different in parliament

Designated Survivor

The president isn't the only one that has a designated survivor.

Congress and SCOTUS all have designated survivors for joint addresses and SOTUs.

For the supreme court, 3 is needed for cases to be ruled on and decided. Only 5 justices are allowed to attend the speech.

For Congress, at least x amount of representatives and senators need to be surviving as well. I don't think that number has been disclosed.

Continuity of government is a big deal and is codified into constitutional amendment and statuary legislation. We have to make sure there is no crisis of leadership and vacuum of power if the worst does happen.