All six conservative members of the Supreme Court attended President Trump’s state dinner Tuesday honoring King Charles, the night before they heard an important case about Mr. Trump’s immigration policies. None of the three liberal justices were present.
It was not clear whether the missing justices had been invited. But the picture created by the partisan split, with every Republican appointee in attendance and every Democratic one missing, seemed at odds with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s oft-stated message that the court he leads avoids even the appearance of political splits.
“We do not sit on opposite sides of an aisle,” Chief Justice Roberts said in 2018, during the first Trump administration. “We do not caucus in separate rooms. We do not serve one party or one interest. We serve one nation. And I want to assure all of you that we will continue to do that to the best of our abilities, whether times are calm or contentious.”
In addition to the chief justice, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett attended the dinner. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson did not.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, did not respond to questions about the justices’ invitations, instead saying only that “the guests in attendance contributed to the overwhelming success of the event.”
The court released a decision on Wednesday striking down Louisiana’s congressional districts, saying that a second majority-minority district constituted a racial gerrymander. The six justices who attended the dinner were in the majority, while the three who did not dissented.
The court also heard arguments on Wednesday in a case testing whether Mr. Trump can revoke humanitarian protections from deportation for Haitians and Syrians.
Mr. Trump has recently had harsh words for some of the justices, lashing out at the three conservative members of the court who joined the three liberals in February to reject much of his tariffs program. In a news conference on the day the court released its ruling, Mr. Trump called the group a “disgrace to our nation” and “lap dogs.”
Mr. Trump said he was particularly disappointed in Justices Gorsuch and Barrett, both of whom he had appointed. They were, he said, “an embarrassment to their families.”
Shawn McCreesh contributed reporting.
Adam Liptak is the chief legal affairs correspondent of The Times and the host of The Docket, a newsletter on legal developments. A graduate of Yale Law School, he practiced law for 14 years before joining The Times in 2002.
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