Dozing off at public events is not out of the ordinary for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — at 85-years-old, falling asleep comes easy for the judge.
Especially when a glass of wine is involved!
Many will remember the famous photo of Ginsburg nodding off three years ago during former President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
Since being caught napping at the 2015 address, Ginsburg admitted that, yes, she did fall asleep because she “wasn’t 100% sober.”
According to reports, Ginsburg and some other justices had dinner together prior to the address and former Justice Anthony Kennedy brought “very fine” California wine.
“I vowed this year just sparkling water — stay away from the wine — but the dinner was so delicious it needed wine,” Ginsburg explained.
Ginsburg tasked Kennedy and Justice Stephen Breyer with keeping her awake during the address. Back in the day, former Justice David Souter was in charge of sitting next to her and giving her pinch if she began to nod off.
But, Ginsburg said Kennedy and Breyer “are sort of timid about that,” and were nervous to wake her up.
She said, “The audience, for the most part, is awake because they are bobbing up and down and we sit there, stone faced,”
Ginsburg continued, “But we’re not, at least I was not, 100 percent sober.”
When she got home from the address, she admitted she did not know she was caught dozing off until she got a phone call from her granddaughter who was watching the address on TV.
“She said, ‘Bubbe, you were sleeping!’” Ginsburg said.
Her knack for napping is apparently well-known.
When asked how her fellow justices reacted to her falling asleep at the address she explained, “They expect me to sleep.”
–The Horn editorial team