Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

Justice Kagan’s Facial Expression During Trump’s Speech: An Appreciation

Yeah, I have a thought or two about President Trump’s speech to Congress last night. But there’s a moment that struck me, and apparently many others, and that has Sisterhood written alllll over it: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s facial expression as Trump mentioned Israel.

Some necessary context: At that moment, Trump had just reached the part of his speech where he “reaffirmed our unbreakable alliance with the state of Israel.” Trump is talking, I’m listening, I look up, and suddenly, there, on my laptop, looking back at me is… my own facial expression in that moment. But on the face of Justice Elena friggin’ Kagan. Who knows what she was actually thinking about. (Complex legal arguments? Puppy corgies?) But in my fantasy version, the expression said ‘I will not be pandered to.’

Normally I’m not the biggest fan of expression-interpretation journalism. We don’t know what famous people are thinking, or, frankly, what anyone is, just by looking at their faces. Why pretend? And isn’t this especially unfair to women, whose, ahem, resting faces come under such scrutiny? That, and I personally have the kind of face where what I’m really thinking is apparent. (Example: ‘What, you don’t like that sandwich?’ ‘No, no, I’m just full.’ And it’ll be totally clear from my face that I’m not full, and will be getting a slice of pizza after.)

But what’s so compelling about analyzing Kagan’s facial expression in that moment is that there she is, someone who absolutely, given her line of work, cannot say what she’s thinking. With her words. Is there a rule about faces? Probably not!

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at [email protected]. Her book, The Perils of “Privilege”, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.