Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is defending the High Court's recent ruling striking down part of the campaign finance law.

President Barack Obama slammed the ruling in his State of the Union address last week which generated some anger out of the justices sitting in the audience, including Justice Samuel Alito. Alito was seen to mouth the words, "Not true."

Justice Thomas wasn't there. According to The New York Times, he said he does not attend those speeches because they have gotten so partisan.

"I don't go because it has become so partisan and it's very uncomfortable for a judge to sit there," he said, adding that "there's a lot that you don't hear on TV - the catcalls, the whooping and hollering and under-the-breath comments."

"One of the consequences," he added in an apparent reference to last week's address, "is now the court becomes part of the conversation, if you want to call it that, in the speeches. It's just an example of why I don't go."