Vice President JD Vance may be one heartbeat away from the presidency, but at a private Supreme Court dinner hosted by Chief Justice John Roberts, he apparently did not get the red-carpet treatment.
According to a new report from The New York Times, Vance made a surprise appearance at a private dinner hosted by Roberts, showing up as the guest of his wife, Usha Vance. She once clerked for Roberts, the George W. Bush appointee who has increasingly found himself at odds with President Donald Trump’s attacks on the courts.
But if Vance expected a warm welcome or special recognition, he reportedly did not get it.
The Times reported that neither the vice president nor his pregnant wife received special seating arrangements at the roughly 100-person event. Roberts also reportedly made no mention of Vance during his remarks that evening.
For a vice president who has built his political brand on confrontation, loyalty to Trump, and attacks on the so-called establishment, the quiet snub was hard to miss.
The White House and a Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sources told the Times that Vance’s appearance was purely social. Still, the timing could not have been more uncomfortable.
Trump has spent months fuming over court rulings that have blocked or challenged some of his most aggressive moves. Just last week, he warned that it would be a “disgrace” if the conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled against his push to end birthright citizenship for millions of Americans.
“Birthright citizen is done by no other country, no other country in the world the way we’re doing it — we’re a laughing stock,” Trump said, even though dozens of countries grant citizenship at birth in some form.
He added, “And if the Supreme Court approves that decision, they have done a great disservice to the United States of America.”
That was not the only time Trump has lashed out at the judiciary.
In February, after the Supreme Court struck down his signature tariff policy in a 6-3 ruling, Trump unloaded on the justices who opposed him. He called them “lap dogs,” a “disgrace to our nation,” and “disloyal to the Constitution.”
“I’m ashamed of certain members of the Court — absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said.
Roberts was one of the conservative justices who sided against Trump in that case, joining Trump appointees Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch. The ruling dealt a major blow to one of Trump’s favorite tools for reshaping global trade and pressuring foreign governments.
Roberts, meanwhile, has not stayed completely silent.
In March, the chief justice appeared to push back against Trump’s escalating war on the courts.
“Judges around the country work very hard to get it right, and if they don’t, their opinions are subject to criticism,” Roberts said.
“But personally directed hostility is dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”
That warning landed in the middle of a growing conservative campaign against judges who rule against Trump’s agenda. And Vance himself has not exactly been a defender of judicial independence.
Last year, Vance told the Times that Roberts was “profoundly wrong” to see his job as including a check on executive power. That comment placed Vance firmly in Trump’s camp, where presidential authority is treated less like one branch of government and more like a weapon to be used without interference.
So when Vance showed up at Roberts’ dinner, the scene carried obvious tension.
On one side was the vice president, a fierce Trump ally who has openly criticized Roberts’ view of the court. On the other was the chief justice, a conservative institutionalist who has become one of the few figures willing to push back when Trump’s attacks on judges go too far.
The result, according to the Times, was not an explosive showdown.
It may have been more brutal than that.
Vance was simply treated like any other guest.
No special seat. No public praise. No mention from Roberts.
For a politician used to commanding cameras and defending Trump on the national stage, that kind of silence can say plenty.
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