Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s face says it all as Trump awkwardly blasts SCOTUS to their faces after very frosty welcome

Donald Trump personally confronted the Supreme Court justices who ruled against his tariffs last week.

The four justices attending the State of the Union address were forced to stand stunned as the President berated them before a joint session of Congress, administration officials and the world.

The president tore up the order moments after cordially shaking hands with the four justices sitting in the front row during his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

‘An unfortunate decision from the United States Supreme Court just four days ago. “Oh, such an unfortunate decision,” Trump lamented.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett kept expressionless faces during the rebuke, even though both Republican-appointed justices joined all the liberal justices in ruling against Trump’s sweeping tariff policies.

Barack Obama-appointed Judge Elena Kagan and Trump-appointed Judge Brett Kavanaugh were also in the audience Tuesday.

Trump insisted that despite the 6-3 decision, most countries and businesses had decided to keep the agreements they had negotiated with the United States on tariffs.

He has said he could make the tariffs worse if he wanted to, and threatened to do so at a press conference last week.

From left to right: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Judge Amy Coney Barrett attend Trump’s State of the Union event at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Trump-appointed Judge Amy Coney Barrett stood expressionless as the president dissented from the majority decision she joined

Trump emphasized that they did not want to “make a new deal that would be much worse for them.”

‘They will therefore continue to work on the same successful path we negotiated before the unfortunate intervention of the Supreme Court,’ he said.

Trump’s cordial handshake with the justices came after he publicly condemned the ruling against their groundbreaking tariff policies, calling them ‘disloyal’ and ‘an embarrassment to their families.’

Tuesday was the first time Trump faced any of the justices since the Friday ruling.

“His expression looked particularly sombre as he walked past the judges,” body language expert Judi James told the Daily Mail. He noted the “fading, high-pitched tone” of a “frustrated” principal as he “blushed” the judges.

James, the judges ‘Although they appeared eager to re-establish eye contact on stage, faces were kept in expressionless close-up by the camera.’

The only right person the president was happy to see in his remarks was Brett Kavanaugh, who disagreed with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samual Alito, who argued that Trump’s tariffs should continue.

The rejection came even though the President had the advantage of a conservative majority. He appointed three Supreme Court Justices in his first term: Neil Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett.

Despite the court’s 6-3 tilt to the right, Gorsuch and Barrett ruled against the President on Friday, while Kavanaugh wrote a dissent supporting Trump.

The president was furious. He claimed that ‘foreign influence’ and political machinations intimidated judges into ruling against him.

He called an emergency press conference at the White House, saying Amy Comey Barrett and Neil Gorsuch were traitors and “an embarrassment to their families.”

He said he was ‘ashamed’ of them and claimed that they were ‘disloyal to the Constitution’.

War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes hands with Chief Justice Roberts as they arrive at the State of the Union

Trump holds an emergency press conference at the White House on Friday, February 20, 2026, after the Supreme Court ruled against his tariff policies

Two Trump-nominated justices join majority opinion to rule against tariffs

Trump complained that conservative judges were not as loyal to Democratic presidents as liberal judges.

The court ruled that Trump had exceeded his executive powers when it came to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

In his fifth State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening, Trump had the chance to see the four Supreme Court justices in person for the first time since the decision.

At his Friday press conference, Trump spoke highly of Judge Kavanaugh, the only judge he chose to rule that the tariffs should remain in place.

Joining the dissent were conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samual Alito; It is said that Trump is considering resigning before the end of the current president’s term in order to win another election.

With a 6-3 conservative majority in the field (and three trump picks), it was hard to imagine a situation where the current president would face opposition on one of his policies.

That’s what he said in his tirade in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Friday.

‘The Supreme Court’s decision on tariffs is deeply disappointing and I am ashamed of some of the members of the Court. “I’m absolutely ashamed that I didn’t have the courage to do what was right for our country,” the president said before taking questions.

“My view is that the court is manipulated by foreign interests and a much smaller political movement than people might think,” he claimed, without citing any evidence.

The Supreme Court building is just across the street from the U.S. Capitol; Will Trump speak at the joint session of Congress on Tuesday, February 24, 2026?

The president also turned legal defeat into gain, saying he now has a greater ability to regulate business.

“While I’m sure they don’t want to do it, today’s decision by the Supreme Court has made stronger and clearer a President’s ability to both regulate trade and impose tariffs,” Trump said. ‘I don’t think they meant that.’

The president continued to rip into conservative justices on Truth Social that day, accusing Gorsuch and Barrett of voting against Republicans and ‘never against themselves.’

‘At least I didn’t appoint Roberts, who led the effort to allow the Foreign Countries that have been robbing us for years to continue doing so – But we won’t let that happen. New tariffs, fully tested and accepted as law, are on the way!’ Trump continued.

He said on social media Monday that he would appeal in small print because he had no respect for the United States’ highest court.