WASHINGTON (AP) — While his colleagues got ready to go to the Capitol, Justice Antonin Scalia sat on a stage across town and held forth about why, for the 16th consecutive year, he would not be joining them for the State of the Union.

He doesn’t go when a Democrat is president. He stays away when the president is Republican.

Recommended Stories

The arrival of divided government

Abdul el Sayed defeats Mike Rogers in Michigan race, poised to become first Muslim senator

Jocelyn Benson wins Michigan gubernatorial race, continuing historic Democratic streak