President Obama's State of the Union 2011: Justices Alito, Thomas and Scalia expected to be absent

Talk about a supremely awkward situation. After last year's State of the Union outburst from Justice Samuel Alito, many political watchers are wondering which members of the nation's highest court will attend the President's speech on Tuesday night.

Alito won't be able to attend because he'll be at a conference in Hawaii, according to the court's spokeswoman. Two other Republican-appointed justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have said publicly that they too would skip the event.

Justice Alito came under the national spotlight during last year's speech when he began shaking his head and mouthing "not true." The remarks came after President Obama slammed a decision the majority-conservative court made that "opened the floodgates" for corporate spending in political campaigns.

The justices usually refrain from reacting during the President's speech, worried it might give the impression that they're taking sides on potential subjects they might encounter.

Tuesday's speech will be the President's first to Congress since the GOP regained a majority in the House of Representative in November.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who blasted year's speech as a "pep rally," is expected to attend again this year, according to multiple reports.

Roberts has previously said he's "very troubled" by the speech's partisan nature, where justices are forced to sit expressionless while Congress "literally surrounds them," sometimes cheering.

Obama-appointed judges Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor are widely expected to attend, in addition to Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy.

Thomas said last year that he doesn't go to the State of the Union because "it has become so partisan."

Scalia told The Hill on Monday that he hasn't "gone to the State of the Union in the last 10 years."

"I'm not starting tomorrow night, either," he added.