Vice President JD Vance made an unannounced visit to the Supreme Court in May 2026 to attend a private dinner Chief Justice John Roberts held for about 100 of his former law clerks, The New York Times reported on May 24. Vance came as a guest of his wife, Usha Vance, who clerked for Roberts. People familiar with the dinner described it as a social call. According to the Times, the Vances were not given special seating at the chief justice's table, and when Roberts gave brief welcoming remarks he offered no special greeting to the vice president.
The Times framed the visit as part of an “awkward dance” between the administration and a Court preparing to rule on major parts of Trump's agenda, including his order ending birthright citizenship. After the Court struck down his sweeping tariffs 6-3 in February, with Roberts and Trump appointees Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett in the majority, Trump called justices “fools and lap dogs” and told reporters he was “ashamed of certain members of the court.” By late May he had returned to attacking the Court over the birthright case, saying in the Oval Office, “It would be a disgrace if the Supreme Court of the United States allows that to happen.” Roberts, speaking at Rice University in March without naming Trump, said, “Personally directed hostility is dangerous and has got to stop.”
Vance has criticized Roberts himself. In a 2025 interview with Times columnist Ross Douthat, he said the chief justice was “profoundly wrong” to suggest that one role of the courts is to check the excesses of the executive branch. The chief justice did not respond to the Times's request for comment, and a Vance spokesperson declined to comment.
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry said Vance crashed the dinner as an uninvited guest, that other guests described being uncomfortable, and that he was publicly snubbed. The Times reported that he attended as his wife's guest on what people familiar called a social call, and reported no guest discomfort; the claims were removed and the title changed. The entry also tied Trump's “ashamed” remark to the birthright-citizenship case; he said it about the February tariff ruling. A Roberts quotation had been assembled from two separate remarks and has been replaced with his words as NBC News reported them. The dinner took place earlier in May; May 24 is the date it was reported.