Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch Just Eviscerated NPR’s Mask Smear – Opinion

False media reports are an epidemic.

NPR’s Nina Totenberg started a story claiming that Chief Justice John Roberts had asked everyone to mask up to protect Justice Sonia Sotomayor who has diabetes, but that Justice Neil Gorsuch was refusing to do so, making Sotomayor have to participate in cases virtually. On top of that, Totenberg suggested that the court wasn’t always getting along with each other, that even within the conservative wing, they weren’t always getting along.

The media outlets picked up the mask smear and distributed it to spread the impression that Gorsuch was evil and mean to Sotomayor. Gorsuch was attacked by everyone on the left.

Now, there were a few problems with the story that ‘journalists’ should have addressed. Before running with the story, did they ask the Court? The first rule of journalism was broken. Plus, the Court doesn’t leak backbiting like this generally; that’s something that the Court has historically been against. Although the Court might disagree about many legal matters, they generally present a united front. Anyone who knew the Court could have believed the story from the beginning.

As we reported last night, Fox had a source at the Court tell them the mask story wasn’t true — that Roberts never asked the justices to mask up, Sotomayor never asked Gorsuch and therefore, Gorsuch never refused a request. Mike Davis, a former Gorsuch law clerk, also refuted the report.

🚨EXCLUSIVE@FoxNews Supreme Court reporter @ShannonBreamAirs inaccurate Reporting Today @NinaTotenberg:

“A source at the Supreme Court says there has been no blanket admonition or request from Chief Justice Roberts that the other Justices begin wearing masks to arguments.” pic.twitter.com/petcj6q1nK

— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) January 19, 2022

But now comes the iron-clad response that should put the rumor to bed: a formal statement from both Justice Sotomayor and Justice Gorsuch that it wasn’t true and that there wasn’t any discord between them personally.

NEU: Statement from Justices Sotomayor & Gorsuch

Our surprise at the report that Justice Sotomayor wanted Justice Gorsuch wearing a mask was shocking. This is false. Despite our differences on the law sometimes, we remain close friends and colleagues.”

— Adam Liptak (@adamliptak) January 19, 2022

“Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us,” the statement said. “It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends.”

Since the Court doesn’t usually deal with or care about gossip, this means they were disturbed by the lie and wanted to break it up quickly.

That should put an end to the madness.

Nope. People in cults simply won’t accept the truth. The cultists must still try to find out if it is still true, or to concoct conspiracies. So, they’re examining the language of the statement and disregarding the Fox report. They’re still trying to claim there’s an issue.

But… the report was that Roberts asked him to wear a mask, not Sotomayor. So… I don’t get this statement.

Are you referring to Team Gorsuch doing another fake comma?

— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) January 19, 2022

Please read the whole thing. Justice Sonia never asked him to put on the mask. Chief Justice Roberts did because of her health condition. Gorsuch declined. It feels to me that Gorsuch made this decision because of the backlash he has been getting. https://t.co/fHJcXGhnq9

— April (@ReignOfApril) January 19, 2022

This is what it means to gaslight yourself. So now, it’s somehow Gorsuch who has ‘forced’ Sotomayor to issue such a statement? Can we talk about the fact that they just can’t handle the truth? How would they feel about Sotomayor? This would render her weak. This argument is absurd!

Liberal justice and conservative justice both declare they can maintain respectful and cordial relationships like regular adults.

Responding to the insult, Twitter partisans have a temper tantrum. https://t.co/mTTUyGRWOv

— Brian Riedl 🧀 (@Brian_Riedl) January 19, 2022

That’s about the size of it.